The Fool On The Hill

Congratulations

Well سلام‎ and Hello there everybody ! It’s been 2 days post-Powerman Malaysia and I am sure most of you who took part are on your road to recovery. It was a HOT HOT race this year I heard. The ground temperature aside, this year was the 10th edition of this event with the biggest ever turnout for total participants in both the sprint and full distance. To all who took part, Congratulations ! I am sure you all had a blast in Manjung !

 

Warded 

I was due to take part ( looking forward to take part actually) for the event last Sunday but was held back thanks to a viral fever. I was warded midnight Thursday and discharged last Sunday evening. Not exactly sure how I got the sick, but I was unwell starting from raya haji morning (6 Nov). Attended Eid al Adha prayers with my family, visited relatives’ home and back to our own to receive guests until evening. Following Monday was a public holiday – took the chance to rest but still didn’t recover so I headed to the clinic with a fever complain, 1 day MC for  Tuesday and was back to work on Wednesday. The office condition only made my condition from better to worse. Feeling ultra dizzy, lethargic and pain around the eye orbit every time I moved the eye laterally to the left/right. Another MC for me for Thursday and Friday. Fully wishing to recover soon only to find my condition getting worse on Thursday eve.

So a 3rd visit to the doctor last week, on Thursday. Had my blood tested. Platelet and white blood cell count LOW with HIGH lymphocyte percentage. There was a possibility for dengue though the marker didn’t show any dengue virus antigen. Anyways, the doctor adviced that I get admitted to they can monitor my condition So went home again, packed my stuff and drove back again to the hospital. I was warded and on drips (NaCl) for 3 long days. Forced to rest, which was good in a way.. I didn’t step out of the ward through out that period. Quite an experience checking myself in and out of the hospital. I was quietly hoping to be better and make it to Manjung, but that didn’t happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R&R

Currently resting at home since yesterday, and will be back to work tomorrow. To all my friends, who visited, called, texted and wrote well wishes for me, Thank You ! Chan Jun Shen was the first to drop by, very nice of him. Thanks Chan ! Oh ya, he brought me some food stuff as well (I only checked in with some clothings/books/my laptop and a bottle of mineral water). My family, Nora, Shah, Paán, Aiman Halim (and siblings), Farah Fazu, Syukran Terk, Najwa, Hadi and a couple more friends came. Thank you again guys !

I wasn’t short of company, AND food.. :p but how many more extra days in the hospital could I stand. So when the doctor came on Sunday noon asking if I want to stay for another day or get discharged, I said ‘I want to go out today’.. as I was feeling better, alhamdulillah. My platelet and WBC will take sometimes to recover. So here I am, in my room, blogging.

I am not 100% well yet, but getting there. Tony Quay,Agnes, Paul Lee,Goh and those of you who called to check if I am okay, thank you also ! 🙂 I had lunch with 2 buddies yesterday, but still felt dizzy on the way back home..Looks like I will be staying in doors for the next couple of days though I plan to walk a bit this eve. I know my fitness has dropped.. I was huffing and puffing walking across this pedestrian bridge near my office. I have to get my health back to normal first and the rest, insyaAllah will follow suit.

Fool On The Hill 

And before I forget… (in case you are wondering what’s with the title of this blog post — has nothing to do with the content yeah? I watched a couple of movies throughout my stay in the hospital and one of them is Dinner For Schmucks. ‘Fool On The Hill’ by the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney in 1967 but was never performed Live by The Beatles, (so I discovered) is the opening soundtrack for that movie. Looked it up on YouTube just now, and man.. I am hooked !

I think the song has a beautiful lyric and meaning to it. The world of music is like a vast sea filled with treasures and surprises in it waiting to be discovered. This particular song went unnoticed until I watched Dinner for Schmucks, and later getting to know that it was covered more than a 100 times, one of which is by Sergio Mendes and his band Brasil 66. Man I’m hooked to this song I can do with a karaoke session right now ! Check out the song below :-

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The monsoon and Penang

On a different note, I think the monsoon season is back, here in the Peninsular. As far as KL is concerned, it has been raining in the evening, sometimes mid-day, but I hope the weather won’t dampen our spirit to be cheery and sunny like the sun ! I can tell from my experience facing monsoon in the east coast, it will find its way affecting your emotional well-being and not only your physical. Take time and effort to keep healthy even though the season for multi-sports is nearly over !

Well, there is still Penang Bridge International Marathon, Nike Run, Newton Run, MALAKOFF 12K Run and a couple of jamborees this month and next. To those of you doing Penang, I wish you all the best !!! I did a 4:40 during my maiden stand alone marathon (a.k.a. suffer fest to expect the worst) there last year in Penang (yes, it DID rain last year as we ran across the bridge). My first 42km was actually ran in Ironman Langkawi 2009 where I clocked a 5:10 including a 10mins diarrhea stop.

Eat and rest well, run safe and SMART, and enjoy the race. Even if you are aiming for top 10, a PB, don’t be so kiasu and forget that some people are there for their own different reasons too, whether to flaunt a potential PB, and have another 42.195km medal added to a growing collection of metals, and even, nobly, embarking on the pursuit of a healthier and active lifestyle– Smile and say Hello! to your friends as you pass them. Some quick tips for those running Penang (especially if it’s your first) :-

– READ the race manual/booklet

– KNOW the start time/venue/which wave start you are in etc.

– PREPARE your race gears before you leave home. Make sure you have your race essentials with packed/with you – especially the timing chip/race bib, energy bars/gels/endurance/recovery drink/salt tablet/ Vaseline

– PLASTIC. If you are carrying any electronic gadgets such as you iPods, mp3s, mobile phone zip them in these polymers.

– MUSIC. It can be pretty boring at some stretches where you will zombie through without anybody (or nearly nobody..) will say Hello to you either because they’re too tired/sleepy or simply can’t be bothered with anything except to keep on running — so it can be useful to play some songs on your phone/mp3.

What I did before was to put them on speakers (on the phone I mean) to make the run more fun/entertaining not only to myself but those who badly need some spirit lift ! I had some guys and gals running with me just because I had something on the stereo ! hihihi.. It was fun. Anyways, don’t forget to hydrate well during the race.

– RING RING. If nature calls, please answer !!! It’s bad for the bladder if you don’t, and you’ll be surprised with how much faster you can run after that. No joke !

– FAIR GAME. And hey, no cheating please ! U-turn where you are suppose to u-turn and make no short cuts or else that future PB you so want to announce won’t be valid. I heard some not-so-nice news from Powerman Malaysia this year where racers decided to take the race Rules&Regulation into their own hands and that it is okay to draft.. Man.. that’s not cool at all. If one person does it, and you decided that it is okay for you to do it, go back and get a reality check. of who’s the fool here. What are your core values and is it fair to side line these values just to prove that you have the upper hand? In a race? Let us NOT be that fool on the hill.

Have a good week ahead everybody 🙂 -missjewelz.marmalade-