Latest family photo

saucony run

Of many evergreen songs....

I was surfing through Youtube for many songs that were popular in the 90s. Since i did not have the means to purchase that many CDs back then, many of the songs were either played frequently on radio or I somehow managed to listen to friend's discmans and walkmans then. Those were considered luxury goods and to be able to afford 1 is certainly something. By the way, my Panasonic discman purchased in 1997 is still running strong and Angela is still using it today. Nowadays, electronic goods are not as durable as it used to be. Partly due to economic reasons, companies cannot make their goods too lasting or else they will be out of business in no time. The company that produced sewing machines Singer is one such example. My mother's sewing machine lasted for 30 years before it finally decided to retire. Even then, my mum managed to locate an old shop in Clementi that could repair it albeit with newer parts. That took them sometime to complete the job as they needed to source for reconditioned components. However, Singer company closed down during the Asian financial crisis as their products were 'over-engineered' which made them lose repeat purchases. So do not be surprised that a certain commodity we all have right now might not last more than 3-5years.

injection

We brought Esther for her scheduled MMR injection at the Polyclinic just across the road. As usual, she will explore the surroundings and it so happened that there were 2 nurses on training who were mesmerized by this 15mth old female toddler who kept staring and smiling at them. When the needle went in, Esther with her high threshold of pain wailed for just a couple of seconds before recomposing her usual cheerful self. When they took her height, weight and head circumference and plotted it on a graph of toddler of her age, her height and head circumference was in the top 97%. Her weight is in the 75% range which is not surprising. Considering the fact that Angela and I have always been around that range as far as our weight is concerned, that is not new news. If any of you were to see the amount of food she consumes daily, you might wonder where did all the food go to.

Busy month come Oct

Out of the 4 Sundays in the month of Oct, each week has a running event. The Terry Fox Run starts on the 5th with the proposed Lion City Marathon a week later. The New Balance Real Run will be held on the 19th and the Women's only Great Eastern 10k will fall on the last sunday. Obviously I might go for the 1st 3 events but I am still unsure if I should go for the 21k in the Lion City Marathon or simply forget about it. As for the GE Women's 10k, some of my friends are planning to take part and they asked if some of us guys want to run with them just as pacers or companions.

So that means for the month of July and Sept, I have no running events at all. The 2nd Link run is scheduled to be sometime in Nov while the pinnacle of all runs will be the Stanchart Sg Marathon which will be held on the 7th Dec. That will be my 2nd marathon for this year. Some asked me to give the triathlon a shot. Maybe next year?

Training up for the Sg Bay Run

I went for a run yesterday afternoon before picking Angela from work. It sure feels good after a sweating session. I clocked 11km in just a little over an hour despite the humidity. I hope to increse the distance progressively and my aim is to complete the upcoming Bay Run which is the 21km route in just about 2h10 - 2h 15min. Considering the fact that my previous 3 half marathon runs were between 2h20m to 2h 30m, it would be wise to set myself a slightly better finishing time. So far, there is still no news about the Lion City Marathon which is scheduled to be held in the month of Oct. I think I might run just the 21k for that event as I intend to run my 2nd marathon for this year which will be the Stanchart Sg Marathon.

700th post

I had my 1st meeting with the merged stream students today and I think the location of the class did make a little difference. Having an air-conditioned environment certainly makes them a little more comfortable. Decided to revise some of their basic concepts which is obviously weak due to a few reasons. Their prelims are just about 2 months from now and the main objective is for them to get at least an E grade so that the terrible task of having to repeat will not happen. I must emphasize that once we teachers have done all we can, the crucial moment of attempting the questions is solely on their own. Hopefully they will be able to perform at the crucial moment.

French GP

With the 2008 season rapidly approaching the halfway mark, Felipe Massa left France with the lead of the drivers’ championship. And on recent form, who’s to say he can’t go all the way? He may have benefitted from team mate Kimi Raikkonen’s technical woes, but even with a sick car, Ferrari’s one-two was emphatic. And as McLaren and BMW Sauber slipped down the order, it was Toyota who were partying hardest in the Magny-Cours paddock on Sunday evening. We take a team-by-team look at how the French Grand Prix played out...

Ferrari

Felipe Massa, 1m 16.729s, P1

Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 16.630s, P2

Having taken pole, Raikkonen seemed an easy winner as he maintained a small but crucial margin over Massa. Then came his exhaust problem around the 33rd lap, which eventually cost him the lead and dropped him to a philosophical second place. On the one hand he was unlucky, on the other he was fortunate to make it to the finish as the engine was threatening to shut down in the final laps. Massa, who had qualified superbly with a heavier fuel load, was perfectly poised to take over as the wheel of fortune spun his way. As is so often the case here, Ferrari were in a class of their own, and the constructors’ points table more than reflects that.

Toyota

Jarno Trulli, 1m 17.567s, P3

Timo Glock, 1m 17.836s, P11

Third place was a great fillip for Toyota, as Trulli scored the marque’s first podium since Australia 2006 after a hard, pushy race which saw him hanging pretty tough on the penultimate lap as he resisted Kovalainen’s challenge. He likened the fight to racing karts. His six points moved Toyota further ahead of Williams. Glock seemed on for a good race when he ran sixth initially, but graining on his second set of Bridgestones created horrible understeer that dropped him down the order.

McLaren

Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 17.134s, P4

Lewis Hamilton, 1m 17.453s, P10

Yet again Hamilton went home without any points, this time almost certainly because the stewards judged his passing move on Vettel on the opening lap as worthy of a drive-through penalty. Hamilton and McLaren disagreed, but once he had served the penalty all chance of points had gone and he had to be content with a 10th place finish. The fastest lap times reveal that, this day, Ferrari had the upper hand in any case. Kovalainen was happy with a strategy that enabled him to move up from his penalised 10th place on the grid to fourth by the end of the race. Encouragingly, he said that his MP4-23 felt ‘fantastic’ throughout the race.

BMW Sauber

Robert Kubica, 1m 17.172s, P5

Nick Heidfeld, 1m 17.716s, P13

This was a disappointing race for BMW Sauber after the high in Canada. Kubica passed Alonso brilliantly on the outside of Turn One, but was repassed in the hairpin when he got bottled up behind Trulli who was carrying more fuel. His F1.08 lacked poise, but he took heart that his fifth place was only two seconds shy of the podium. Heidfeld had a terrible race, bemoaning his car’s balance on his way to 13th place.

The Ferraris did not disappoint.....

Latest results from the French GP proved that the Ferraris did a red wash once again. However, it was Massa who took the top step of the podium as Raikkonen had some exhaust problems which meant he had to nurse the car to the chequered flag. Despite that, Ferrari extend their lead in the constructor's championship while Massa moves to the top of the driver's points. More details to follow.................

Ferrari 1-2 at French GP Qualifying

Once again, it will be an all-Ferrari front row at the French GP tomorrow. The scarlet cars outclassed the rest to give it a red-wash at the start of the grid tomorrow. I reckon that that Spanish guy driving that French car is light on fuel just to boost Renault in front of their home crowd. Let's hope that the BMs will excite everyone again as they did in Canada a fortnight ago.

Staff meeting & course briefing

Was at LPS for a good part of the morning for the mid-year staff meeting. It was nice meeting up with everyone once again before the term begins and the school is so much more active compared to a fortnight ago. However, I had to take my leave at about 11am as I had to register for my degree course back on campus so in my usual rate, I managed to cover the whole journey in 15min. I did not speed though as traffic was very light. Cruised at 100 and before I knew it, I was back on the same grounds which I spent a good part of my previous two years in training. This will be my second home come Aug 4 for another 24mths and this time round, pursuing a degree in mathematics and a 3rd CS in Science is something that I am looking forward with some uncertainty. However, who said a degree course was straightforward? The onus is on oneself to work things out well.

Found many familiar faces who also accepted the crossover to the degree course. It is somewhat like those from SISPEC crossing over to OCS. Asked around and many people are pursuing BA in English. Not many are doing BSc in Maths. Seems that English is the more favoured academic subject? Perhaps. I would think I need to meet more of those direct entry to the degree course so that my networking will be widened. This will be very helpful when it comes to sharing of resources in the future. For now, I need to focus on that resurrection mission....

French GP this weekend

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen is busy telling the world that he wants to satisfy his lust for winning; BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica is quietly determined not to lose his lead in the world championship; and Lewis Hamilton has been admitting to the pressure he is feeling as McLaren’s (and his country’s) golden hope for title honours.

Frankly, the odds favour the Ferrari and BMW Sauber teams in Magny-Cours rather than Hamilton, as he will be given the 10-place grid penalty for his gaffe of running into the back of Raikkonen recently in Canada.

Raikkonen proclaimed earlier this week: "I don't remember when I had such a great lust for winning. The team had prepared a car, which was able to be strong on all the tracks, but it didn't go well during the last races.

“I don't like looking back and think about what happened at the last race. I don't carry bad thoughts with me, because that would just make me lose time, as you can't change the result anyway. It's much better to concentrate on the upcoming GP and try to get the best result possible."

The Finn won here last year, of course, and needs a strong result to contain the increasing challenge not just from Kubica but also from team mate Felipe Massa who drove storming races in Monaco and Montreal. For his part, Massa believes the F2008 will be well suited to Magny-Cours, though the Brazilian remains wary of the BMW Sauber threat.

“It is a nice track that usually suits the characteristics of our car,” he said. “In recent years, people would say that Canada and Monaco suited McLaren better than Ferrari, while it was the other way round in France and Britain, but I don't think that is really the case this year, as apart from any other factors, we have to consider the BMW team in this equation.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton told British broadcasters the BBC: “The sport is fun, but there's a way you have to learn to enjoy it. There's so much pressure, and I can't begin to explain how much pressure I have on my shoulders.”

The grid penalty will make it almost impossible for Hamilton to win at Magny-Cours, a circuit that historically favours the Ferraris and on which it is horribly difficult to overtake. However, there may be one thing that could disrupt anticipated form and that’s the weather. Severe thunderstorms are currently predicted for race day, after rain for qualifying.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself, and when you don't succeed it doesn't feel so great," Hamilton acknowledged. "But these are character-building days and the days that make you stronger. I didn't win the last race but I'm loving this. I get to come back here, work with the guys and push forward, and there's a great atmosphere, always pushing to get better and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm really enjoying myself."

He has put down his mistakes earlier in the year to the fact that he put a lot of pressure on himself. "Too much. And that led to mistakes, being too on the limit. I wasn't really enjoying it, to be honest."

Kubica, like Raikkonen, keeps his emotional cards close to his chest and never gives much away. Barely alluding to his lead in the world championship for drivers, he said: "For many people Magny-Cours is a boring place, but I like the track quite a lot. This is the place where I came back last year after my accident. It's an interesting track because it has all kinds of corners - high-speed, low-speed, high-speed chicanes, a hairpin and heavy braking. So I'm looking forward to the race and I hope that I can do as well as possible here, as I have done in most of the Grands Prix since the beginning of the season.

“I hope we will again have some improvements on the car that will help us to close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren. My goal is to score as many points as possible and to still be in a strong position after the race.”

Bridgestone will bring the 'soft' and 'medium' tyre compounds from their 2008 range to this race, which, with characteristics akin to Monaco, is known to be particularly tiresome for rubber.

Smiling despite it being so tired....

This shot was taken at around the 34-35km mark and it was almost 5.30am. I had been up all night conquering the 42.195km so despite being so tired, I tried to look 'cheerful'.

Esther is 15 mths old today

Adidas Sundown Marathon finisher's tee

The producers have done it again....sigh...

Those who follow Ch U's reality show "U are the one" will be able to know what this show is all about. As usual, Mediacorpse has done what they do by trying to use such degrading tactics to woo young viewers with the false impression that the pursuit to stardom is something glamourous. It is sad that part of the audience are secondary school children. Is it because the organisation is not earning enough or worse still, in the red that they need to resort to such disgraceful tactics to increase their viewership? Worse still, many of the contestants are still studying. I am sorry to say this but in Singapore, education is still and will be the key to basic survival. We are not like some other countries where there are numerous paths besides getting a good education are available. Too bad that we are such a small and young nation where our people are our only natural resources. It is also the fact that we need to be not just a cut but many cuts above the rest. The basis is still the same: having a good education is key. It may take another genaration or two to change this mindset but at this point in time, the pursuit of stardom is best done when the basics is sound first. Meaning, anyone who wishes to pursue stardom had better get their basic education right before even thinking about it. Afterall, stardom is short-lived but qualifications have a much longer shelf life. So to all youngsters out there (tertiary and below) please get your educational qualifications right before thinking of anything else. It is just too bad but in Singapore, this is the way to go.

Telephone operator

Pictures of the damage on my car (2nd accident)

If you recall 6 mths ago, that dreaded taxi hit the same spot. This time the impact was slightly greater and even the side fender was slightly dented. Anyway, the other party was totally at fault for not paying attention. Wonder if the future resale of my car will be affected? I guess I have to keep driving this car for quite a while more.....

Sundown bib

Resumed running...

The time left to the Singapore Bay Run is just 10 wks. This will be my 3rd time that I am running the Sheares Bridge and my 4th half marathon attempt. I think it would be wise to target a realistic time that I roughly will take to complete the run. If I clock in at least 3 times weekly with at least 1 session that aims to complete at least 20km, I reckon to aim for a timing of 2h15min is quite achievable. Obviously, I will have to adopt certain strategies like what I did in the Sundown Marathon. Though running a full marathon compared to a half is so different, the basic training is virtually similar. After resting for 2 days, I hit the roads earlier. Though I only covered about 11km, it was a great session. Probably I will cover 15k in a day or two?

NIE deg course

I was reading through the module summaries plus other information pertaining to the abovementioned earlier. It seems that taking mathematics as an Academic Subject just like any other is no small feat. Being offered direct admission into year 2 means that I have only 2 years to finish 3 years work. Obviously I will be granted some exemptions from my dip ed course. Further details will be made available on Fri 20th Jun when all those who accept the crossover to the deg course will meet with the sub dean. So what is my final decision? I will bite the bullet and go for it.

BM Sauber have finally made it with a 1-2 at the Canadian GP

BMW Sauber’s 2008 target was to score their first Grand Prix win and on Sunday in Montreal they achieved it in style, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld recording an emphatic one-two victory for the German-Swiss team. The result, which also saw Red Bull back on the podium, came at the end of an afternoon packed with incidents, most notably Lewis Hamilton’s pit-lane blunder, which put both his McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari out of the race…

BMW Sauber

Robert Kubica, 1m 17.539s, P1

Nick Heidfeld, 1m 17.430s, P2

Kubica kept Raikkonen at bay going into Turn One at the start, but could not keep up initially with Hamilton as his tyre pressures were not right and lost him grip. His second set of tyres was much better and he was able to drive ‘several qualifying laps’ once he had fought clear of all the single-stoppers who held him up after the safety car intervention. With a faster two-stop strategy it was clear he had to pass Heidfeld, and the German admitted that he didn’t make it hard for the Pole to do that. Heidfeld was very quick on the soft tyres in the opening stages, and set the race’s second fastest lap. BMW Sauber’s superb one-two netted them 18 points and thrust them back ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship, only three points adrift of leaders Ferrari. Theirs was a massively popular victory.

Red Bull

David Coulthard, 1m 18.085s, P3

Mark Webber, 1m 18.201s, P10

Coulthard’s single-stop strategy worked superbly for Red Bull, and after Heidfeld and Barrichello finally stopped for fuel he led for a lap and came out still in contention for the final podium finish. He got it once Alonso had spun. Webber looked strong early on with a two-stop strategy, but lost too much time as the single stoppers ran so long and fell back to a disappointed 12th place finish.

Toyota

Timo Glock, 1m 19.087s, P4

Jarno Trulli, 1m 18.870s, P6

Toyota’s similar strategy yielded a nice haul of eight points, with Glock breaking his duck in fourth and Trulli sixth. There was a point where the Italian was fending off Felipe Massa, only to get baulked by his team mate as the German made a mistake exiting the first corner. As Trulli had to get out of the throttle, the Brazilian pounced to split the Japanese cars in the finishing order.

Ferrari

Felipe Massa, 1m 18.006s, P5

Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 17.387s, retired lap 19, rear-ended by Hamilton

Ferrari looked strong initially, with Raikkonen setting the fastest lap on soft tyres as he hounded Kubica early on. Then came the incident when Hamilton ran into the back of him while he was stationary at the red light at the exit to the pits. The impact removed his rear wing, and that was that. Compounding Ferrari’s frustration, Massa’s refuelling rig suffered a broken joint in the fuel line that same lap, necessitating a further stop next time around which threw him to the back of the field. His climb back to fifth was one of the race’s highlights, in particular his double pass on Barrichello and Kovalainen at the hairpin.

Honda

Rubens Barrichello, 1m 18.301s, P7

Jenson Button, 1m 19.352s, P11

Barrichello should really have taken fourth place after a solid single-stop run saw him lead for a while, but he slid off the road momentarily on the 59th lap as his second set of tyres lacked the grip of the first. Seventh nevertheless yielded two further points from a race in which he felt unwell. Button started from the pit lane after making unscheduled changes to the suspension set-up of his Honda, and endured a tough and ultimately disappointing run to 11th place.

Toro Rosso

Sebastian Vettel, 1m 18.532s, P8

Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 18.620s, P13

An eighth-place finish from a pit lane start was a testimony to the quality of Sebastian Vettel’s drive in Montreal, and to his single-stop strategy. The latter helped him to make places during everyone else’s first stops, but nearly backfired when he finally made his on the 37th lap due to a refuelling rig problem. Bourdais was the final finisher in 13th, after surviving a spin in the hairpin on lap 36. It was, he admitted, ‘a bad weekend all round’.

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton, 1m 17.506s, retired lap 19, accident

Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 18.462, P9

Hamilton appeared to own Montreal and was romping away until the safety car intervention. Then he made his mistake in the pit lane on lap 19, and that was it. Over and, embarrassingly, out. One of the people Vettel kept behind was Kovalainen, who had to endure yet another race for McLaren that just didn’t unfold for him. His first set of tyres suffered graining, and changing them didn’t help so he was never able to push as hard as he needed to.

Williams

Nico Rosberg, 1m 17.977s, retired lap 19, accident

Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 18.784s, retired lap 49, hit Button, hit pit wall

Rosberg looked set to make up for Monaco, but then compounded his errors there with another when he hit Hamilton in the pit road. Thereafter he showed what the Williams could have done by setting fifth-fastest lap. Nakajima ran well but hit the back of Button’s car while challenging the Englishman for seventh place on lap 47. The wing fell off as he reached the pit lane, and as it folded under his front wheels he tobogganed into the pit wall, doing even more damage. Williams dropped two places in the constructors’ championship after a tough afternoon.

Renault

Fernando Alonso, 1m 18.225s, retired lap 45, accident

Nelson Piquet, 1m 19.239s, retired lap 39, brakes

Alonso was the greatest threat to BMW Sauber’s one-two and sneaked ahead of Heidfeld briefly at the hairpin on lap 44 before sliding wide and losing the position. A lap later he made a mistake exiting Turn Two and spun, hitting the outer wall. On a bad day for the 2006 winners, Nelson Piquet’s more promising initial charge ended when he spun out the back of the circuit and then retired with a brake problem.

Force India

Adrian Sutil, 1m 20.666s, retired lap 14, lost gears

Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 19.066s, retired lap 52, accident

Sutil was hanging on to the Toyotas early on, but stopped and triggered the fateful safety car intervention when he lost second and third gears. Fisichella’s race was compromised when his engine stalled during his pit stop, and ended after 51 laps after he had clobbered a wall.

Saucony Passion Run

I crossed the finish line when the clock showed 1h53m. Not an impressive 15k timing but right from the start I was not going for timing. Since it is just a week after my Sundown Marathon, I felt that today's run is more like a recovery run before I resume training for the next event which is the Singapore Bay Run held on 24th Aug. That would be a half marathon which will be pretty exciting.

Went back to A&E again....

Esther was still not feeling well this morning so on advice from our GP, we sent her to KKH again. As usual, the staff were professional in the way the handled the matter and seeing that her oxygen level was a little low, they let us jump the queue and got a PD to attend to her. After having an X-ray taken, Esther was diagnosed as having acute bronchitis. There was a slight build up of phlem in the right lung and started her on a course of antibiotics. Thankfully she need not be warded. This certainly brought back memories when she was just born last year and had to be warded for another 3 days due to her high level of jaundice. I guess all young parents will go through this stage of feeling very terrible when they see their little one ill and having to be subjected to heavy dosages of medicine plus other tests. It made me appreciate my parents and in-laws even more. I confess that I did take them for granted yet they still put up with all my nonsense. So the lesson here is to really treasure all that we have while we have them.

Car only ready on Mon

The service centre called me earlier to inform me that my car will be ready for collection on Monday. Guess they needed more time than the previous as the damage is more substantial this time around. Since I am not the one paying for the rental nor repairs, I just want them to go a really good job in restoring the damaged panels back to their original condition especially the rear trunk area. I particularly stressed to them about doing the water test to ensure that there will be no leakage. I guess the other person who collided into my car might have his insurance premium increased by quite a big amount judging from the final repair bill.

Canadian GP this wkend

Back in the lead of the world championship after his victory in Monaco, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is determined to become 2008’s first three-time winner on the circuit at which he took his maiden Grand Prix triumph last season, as the Formula One circus moves to Canada.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are similarly searching for their third victory of the season and after the Italian team’s disappointing Monte Carlo result, both will be out to make amends at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

“Winning at Monaco is the highlight of my career, it was a very emotional victory for me as it is something I have dreamed of since I was a kid,” says Hamilton. “I will never forget the moment, but now my only focus is Canada. We have good momentum right now and we are pushing to keep that going and to keep developing.

“The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is one of my favourite tracks and following last year it is a very special place for me. I hope that we will be quick there again this year. It is renowned for its difficult track surfaces, particularly with tyre graining, and the walls. Despite being very fast, it can feel like a street circuit with the barriers very close, but it is good fun to drive.”

Twelve months on from his first pole position and victory, Hamilton reflected recently on how his career has developed.

“Last year in Canada was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, to take my maiden pole and victory in Formula One was incredible. Since then I think I’ve matured a lot. I have grown stronger as a driver and have become closer to the team.”

Similar things might be said of Massa, who is beginning to emerge as a real force at Ferrari. “I think we have gone very well in the recent test at Paul Ricard, with the car set-up for Canada,” the Brazilian says. “I think we will be a lot better there than we were last year, and I think we can fight for the win.”

Team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who won in Montreal for McLaren in 2005, needs a strong result after Monaco. He is convinced the F2008 will work better than last year around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, when Ferrari had a relatively poor Canadian Grand Prix, with the Finn taking fifth place and Massa being disqualified for a pit lane infringement.

“Traditionally Canada is a good race for Ferrari,” says Raikkonen, “so let's hope that we can continue this tradition. It's possible to have strange races there, too, because it's very possible that the safety car will be employed, but we're ready for every kind of situation.”

Meanwhile, the BMW Sauber pairing of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld (a podium finisher here in 2007), are also hungry, the German-Swiss team currently just a point shy of second-placed McLaren in the constructor standings.

"Last year's race was very special for me,” Heidfeld says. “We put in a very strong showing in 2007. I came third in qualifying and finished second in the race on my own merit. Initially that result was obviously overshadowed by Robert's accident. Only when we knew he was okay were we able to celebrate.”

The Pole says that he has no qualms about the place despite the massive accident that befell him here in 2007.

“I don't think there will be any emotions for me,” he says. “Like always at every Grand Prix I will try to do my best. And after the accident of last year there was no effect - there was no effect until now so I don’t expect anything.”

The teams always run low downforce here because of the long straights, so mechanical grip becomes even more important. Brake performance and durability is also critical, as this is the toughest circuit of the season in that respect.

"It is very heavy on the brakes and we have to pay special attention to make sure they last the race,” says Heikki Kovalainen, who will be looking for his first victory with McLaren. “It is also definitely key to a good lap at this track to be able to ride the kerbs well; basically you are trying to straight-line them so you can go faster through the corner. The most important thing is being able to take those bumps and the hits well and for it not to disrupt the car too much. So in general the car needs to be quite soft."

The track has been modified at the point on the back straight where Kubica crashed. The wall that he hit on the outside has been moved closer to the track to reduce the angle of impact if a car goes off there in a similar accident. Improved debris fencing has also been added to reduce the possibility of debris being thrown across the wall into the path of cars exiting the hairpin.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve gets little use during the year so the surface tends to be very slippery until it cleans up with use and ‘rubbers in’. Thereafter, the grip level increases significantly.

Bridgestone will have their soft and super-soft tyres again, as in Monaco, but the indications from the weather forecasts are that they may well need their wet-weather rubber instead. A chance of thunderstorms is predicted for all three racing days.

Final semester results

I got my results and it was quite an improvement over my previous semester. In fact the final GPA was that of 3.53 which is nothing great compared to many of my coursemates. Then came the million dollar phrase of being offered admission to the degree course. I can only attribute it to my undeserving grace of the Lord. Now comes the most difficult part: should I accept it or not? Time does not permit me to give a full detailed analysis but now I am faced with one of the most difficult decisions that I have to make in my life......

Back from KKH A&E

Since it is already the 5th day, on advice from our GP, we decide to visit the A&E at KKH because Esther's fever soared to 39.5 earlier in the evening. After our dinner, we drove to KKH and I was quite surprised that it did not take very long before we were attended to. However, there is a policy which most if not all hospitals A&E department adapt is that those who are in more serious condition will be attended to first. Esther's fever had eased to mid 37 so we waited for about half an hour. The GP in attendance was very professional in her way of questioning and being thorough. Ditto the nursing staff. As I have never been to and do not intend to visit other hospitals' A&E, based on what many have told me, KKH is about the only place for children. Distance wise, NUH would been much nearer but on recommendation by my brother, he advised me to go to KKH instead. My nephew was admitted to NUH A&E sometime back as he had a fit attack coupled with his fever hitting 41deg. The ambulance sent him to NUH as it is the nearest. So now we are praying hard that Esther will recover in time for our church camp next week. In fact, we are quite half-hearted as to whether we should go.

Post marathon recovery...

My thigh muscles are aching but not as bad as I had expected. Been doing lots of stretching and I think walking down the stairs or downslopes are a torture. Went to CSC for a dip in the pool and it helpe quite a fair bit. I am now thinking of the Passion Run this coming sunday and I wonder if I can recover in time for that. 15k might seem to be kid's play once you have conquered 3 halves and 1 full but I am not taking any chances. If I need to walk most of the journey so be it. So what then after my 1st successful marathon attempt? I am even more 'addicted' to running! The sense of satisfaction is great. Knowing that I ran the distance equivalent to the PIE from one end to the other makes me want to do it all over again with an improved timing....anyone game enough to join me???

Adidas Sundown Marathon

I crossed the finish line when the clock showed 6hrs 54 min 35.24 sec. It was a tough race through the night and the various terrain but it was a great experience. Though there were minor issues along the way, the 'highlight' was when the skies opened up at the 36km mark and I decided to stop at a bus shelter for 30 mins and only resumed when the rain died to a drizzle. I was still soaked but by the time I was on the last 1.5km or so, the rain had stopped completely. The feeling of crossing the line was estatic. I overcame the challenges and finished my first full marathon with not that much strain except for sore muscles, a painful toe nail and sleepiness. Here comes the million dollar question: will I do a full marathon again. Yes I will. Here's to the Stanchart Sg Marathon on Dec 7th.