30 Day of Prayer for Muslims

Tomorrow will be the first day of fasting and praying for me.

Of late, God has been laying upon my heart the need to come before Him in total dependence and humility. This means stripping away all my agendas, to-do-list of the day, hidden passions and desires (one of them is certainly food), and coming to Him knowing that He alone is more than enough to provide for my needs. Sometimes, it just breaks my heart that to know of all the things that I do routinely everyday (eg eating, showering, studying), prayer is not part of the list.

I have not actually committed myself to a long period of fasting before. And to be honest, I am quite worried that I might not be able to make it. I am completely inexperienced in this, and it certainly does not help that I am a food-lover. So since this is my first, I would make it slightly easier and attainable. I would wake up early to have breakfast. After breakfast, I would start fasting till evening. During this 'fasting' period though, drinks and fruits are allowed. I know you may think that this is cheating, but I must assure you that even this is super difficult for me. Each day, I would commit to reading of Scripture and praying three times (before breakfast, lunch and before dinner/before i sleep).

The past week, I have been trying to condition myself to follow this exercise. The result? Unsurprisingly miserable. This is really difficult for me. I found myself thinking about food all the time. Well, there is no point in complaining now. I think I would never know how much of God I can trust and cling on to, even in my hunger and struggle, until i step into this 30-day journey.

So Lord, please help me. Truly Jesus said: Men shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. I want to believe this, help me to do so.

We are a go!

Yesterday I just chanced upon the Northface 100 Singapore website and saw that the participants' list is out. Eager to see if J Boy's and my name are in, I strolled down the mouse till I saw this..

That same night, before I had the chance to tell J boy, I saw a skype message that he left with me to tell me that our names are up, and that he's very excited too. Telepathy! :D

So that means, we are a go then!

I (or we) chose to use the name - Infinity Milers as our team name because I still identify myself very strongly with the running and mountain-climbing club. It's where both J boy and I truly became brothers and had the opportunity to run and climb together. We raced the Ulu-Langat Eco-Race under the same name (where we got 4th), and some relay triathlon events as well - A Farmosa and Port Dickson (where we got 1st and no-knows-what-position respectively). Our desires then, had always been to make our school proud, and it shall be no different this time. It really does give the extra emotional and psychological push when we know we are running with and for Infinity Milers.

Meanwhile, I just hope our training will continue to pick up. I had a great start last week, considering that I had not been able to run properly for months. This week shall be a new challenge again. J boy is sitting for his final exams as a medical student so he will start training after that. I hope he does well in his exams. So be it studying or running, we have to give our best.

To infinity and beyond. :)

Long run at the end of the week

Today is the final day of the run for the first week, and it marks the first week of proper, almost pain-free training. 

As you know, I have been injured since I was in South Africa (on 13 Feb 2011 after the Hillcrest Marathon). I did 3 hrs 45 mins for the marathon, but ended up injuring my right knee (ITB syndrome) and left ankle (anterior tibialis tendonitis). Since then, I had not been able to run properly for a long time. I managed a few runs here and there, the distance usually short, and I had always been running in pain. Due to my eagerness to run the two oceans ultra-marathon in April (56km), I disregarded the pain and tried to push for more mileage. Needless to say, I had to rely on NSAIDs for most of the runs. I even had cortisone injection in my right knee one week before Two Oceans (some of you may think that cortisone injection is a really bad thing because of all the negative connotation attached to steroids but I can assure you that it is a safe and good thing to do, especially for chronic injuries un-amenable to other therapies). Anyhow, the end result is i buggered up my left knee as well (patellofemoral pain syndrome) after the Two Oceans.

This injury kept me out for a long time. Then I promised Raymun that I would run the Gold Coast Marathon in July with him. This means I had to start training in June latest. Meanwhile, I had been doing a lot knee strengthening exercises and rehabilitative stretching to prepare my legs for action. However, in early June, I still had difficulty doing even 5km. I could not do it without having moderate to severe pain and marked effusion in my left knee. I knew in my head that there is no way I could run a marathon in early July. Worse still, I ran the risk of worsening all my injuries and might even incur new ones in the process of over-running. My worst fear is that one day I just might not be able to run anymore from all these accumulative injuries. Logic convinced me in the end that I should not go for a marathon. I signed up for half instead. Raymun was happy that I made a correct decision this time.

En-route to Gold Coast Marathon, I tried to spread out my training between strengthening exercises, light running, and swimming. There was varying degree of pain during my training, which was mild on a good day, and severe on a bad day that I had to stop in less 3km. All in all, I knew I was making good progress. Slow, but good all the same.  Finally, come Gold Coast Marathon, I finished 21km in 1 hr 42 mins. I am satisfied with timing, considering that I had little training and injuries.

Now, three weeks after Gold Coast Marathon, I felt that I am ready to train again. The pain in my left knee had almost disappeared. I managed a long run today at the beach. BEACH! Haha.. I was basically running along the shore which is very flat and enjoying the sound of the waves and the sunlight as well. Again I had to pay a lot of attention to my running form, and making my strides as light and fast as possible. I finished 12km in just under an hour. The calves were screaming out, but surprisingly I felt I still had a lot of reserve (stamina) in me. Good effort. I

My goal now is the Northface 100 in Singapore on 15 Oct. Jeremy boy and I signed up for 100km duo category, which means each of us is running 50km. It's a big race for us, and we are really excited about it. I hope that we would be able to train well for it (he is currently recovering from an injury too), and that our friendship would be strengthened in the process as we go through trial and challenges together. Nothing means more that going through the dirt and rough surfaces with a buddy whom you deeply respect and love.

That's all for now. Time to go shower and read my bible and do some work. :)

Week 1
Monday - 7km (40 mins)
Tuesday - 10km (55 mins)
Wednesday - 5.3km (27 mins)
Thursday - 7km (37 mins)
Friday - Stationary exercises and stretching
Saturday - 12km (58 mins) - Flat
Total - 41.3km  (217mins)
Average speed - 5.25min/km or 8.28 min/mile. 

Coolum Beach. Beginning of the run.

Peregian Beach. U-turn.

On the way back.

Someone just completed sky-diving!

Enjoying the run. :)


Dogs 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

 

 

 

Day 4 of running

This morning, Julia told me that she ran 8.5km in 36 minutes yesterday. Wow. That was fast. I remembered in South Africa I could only manage a 35m13s for 8km. She then told me that her aim is to dip under 40 minutes for 10km, which is my aim too. So ya. Time will tell if we can achieve our goals.

I went running again today. Decided to run the same route as Monday. It was a 7km course which involves a lot of uphill and downhill. Can't remember running on flat for more than 30 seconds in the entire course. The scenery was breath-taking. There were wide open plains everywhere with lots of cattles and horses. In the background were the hills, with its beautiful contours seen clearly under the setting sun. I had another day of pain-free run! Yo ho!

Down-slope. (when there is a down, there is an up too on the way back)

Part of the route.

The cow was running away from me!

Beautiful scenery. One of the reasons why i love running.

That evening, I rode my scooter to Kai's place for dinner. He had a minor operation on his cheek to remove a benign growth this morning. The operation was done in private hospital and it went really smoothly. And the best thing was, the anaesthetist told Kai's mum (Chris) and he was not going to charge her for it! What a relief for them! What more, Kai was allowed to keep all the equipments/tools that were used in the operation eg the bagging mask, hudson mask, LMA etc. He was quite excited and he said he has a presentation in class next week where he is supposed to bring any object (except toy) to show to his classmates. So these medical equipments would do the job just nice!

I spent some time playing and reading with him. He is such a special boy. The sad thing is, he never met his father before. I remembered one day i brought him to church, and during Sunday School we were going to play the game - Simon says. He interrupted me and told me his mum said he is not allowed to play the game. Why, i asked. He said because his real father's name is Simon, so he is not allowed to even mention his name. My heart just broke.

Anyway i just pray and hope that Kai would grow up to be a good man. No doubt he is going to carry some wounds, specifically father-wound. But I pray that he will come to know his heavenly Father, who loves him deeply and would never forsake him.

I am special poem.

His sticker book.

Reading some poems together.

His birthday is coming soon. 13 August. Can't wait. Thank God for Chris and Kai. :)

Day 3 of running

Yesterday my right achilles tendon started to hurt quite badly toward the end of the run (probably in the last 2km or so). I told myself I was going to rest today but the urge to run got the better of me.

I started by doing the same warm-up that I normally do to prepare the body for the run. I did some stretching, with particular focus on calf, hamstrings, quads, glutes and trunk (these are extremely important muscles in running), as well as some dynamic exercises eg toy soldier, walking lunges, eccentric heel dip, ankle mobilisation, VMO dip etc. These dynamic exercises activate the muscles and fire them up for action.

VMO dip. Great for patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS)

Eccentric heel dip. Great for achilles tendonosis as it exercises both the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

I would write more about the different types of warm ups and exercises you can do before each run in the future. Keep in mind that these exercises are paramount to running healthily and injury-free. I never used to pay so much attention to them until I got injured this year in South Africa. Since my injuries, my knees and ankles have lost their reserve that the slightest error in my running form or lack of warming up would precipitate an old injury. Hence, I don't want to take things for granted now. I want to make sure the essential body parts for running are ready for action before I hit the road.

I did 5.24km today. Again it's a hilly course. I ran pain-free again! :D

Thank God for today. :)

Starting to run again.

After three weeks off running, I'm back to training again. Three weeks ago, I rode my scooter to Coolum Beach early in the morning to run. After running about 8km, my right knee and right achilles tendon started to hurt really badly. Fearing that my right knee injury had returned, I took some time off running so that my legs can recover.

Yesterday, I ran 7km along Image Flat. The terrain is undulating, and the scenery is really nice. I focused a lot on my running form because this time I really want to be cautious about running correctly. I know there is no such thing as a 'perfect' stride as everyone's feet are made different, but I want to explore techniques that allow me to run with great efficiency and minimal impact on my knees and ankles, thereby preventing or reducing the risk of injury.

Today, I ran about 10km around my old house. It's a route that I ran on almost every time last year. It brought back some good memories and reminded me of those times when I could run injury-free. In those days, I looked forward to running everyday no matter how tired I was. After the run, I would always go to a field next to my house and just lie there for a long time and be lost in time. Listening to the sound of the birds and rustling wind, and staring at the clouds on the sky above, my soul felt calm and still.

Up-slope

Part of the route.

My old house. Second from left.

I am still deciding whether landing on my midfoot or forefoot is the best. Landing on midfoot, I realised, allows me to run with greater ease and it makes me feel lighter. I was able to lift my feet just high enough to brush my feet along the surface of the road, thereby promoting higher cadence (stride rate) and shorter stride length. Landing on forefoot, on the other hand, forces me to activate my calf muscles to absorb the impact of landing, thereby reducing the impact on the knees. However, the down side is the achilles tendons have to work extra hard to absorb the impact. At present, my right achilles tendon has not fully recovered yet so I have to go easy on it.

Right now, I am icing both my knees for a good hour as I normally do after any run. It is to reduce inflammation and promote blood flow to the area. Hopefully I can continue to run for about 30-45 minutes pain-free tomorrow and Thursday.

Thank God for yesterday and today. :)

The prayer life of Daniel

'When Daniel knew that the document (to ban people from praying to any other god other than king Darius himself) had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.' Daniel 6:10

My heart is broken at the way Daniel prayed in his life. When i think about my own non-existent prayer life (other than during times of need), and how during the times that i do pray, my mind wonders off easily, i just feel ashamed, broken and sorry. God, who is supposedly the most important Person in my life and in the whole Universe, deserves so little time from His creatures such as myself. I have tried to pray consistently before, and despite my best intention and effort, my prayer life usually lasts for a few days, before something else takes over.

Here is a man who was probably much busier than any of us, who had an entire country to run, documents to sign, meetings to attend, and he actually took time three times a day to kneel and pray. The more shocking thing is that, when it became illegal to pray, and when praying would cost him his own dear life, he persists in praying, as he had done previously. What is in Daniel that made him so utterly devoted to the One Being that he disregarded his own life and said: 'You will have to take away my life before you take away my prayer'?

Here are a few shocking things in Daniel 6.

1. He prayed in full knowledge of the signed document.
2. He could have hidden in some other place to pray, like in the woods or in his secret chamber, but instead, he chose to pray at the window which opened toward Jerusalem, as he had done previously. We must recognise that this praying at the window was not a new stunt he performed, but was simply what he has been doing all the while. It is also not a public display of spirituality like what the Pharisees loved to do, but he was making a statement to the king and his foes that only the God of Israel deserved our total devotion and worship. We must also take note that he was not going to receive praises for his public prayer, but by doing this it would cost him his dear life. He was going to be persecuted for righteousness.
3. If he had not persisted in his prayer, his foes could have easily said: Now i see, when it becomes dangerous to pray, you bail out. I see that your devotion to God is so brittle after all.
4. He gave thanks in his prayer. He did not come up with a list of demands for God in his prayer, even when his life was at stake, but he primarily gave thanks to Him.
5. He got down on his knees, three times a day, to pray. Such spiritual discipline. This is not to be confused with legalism, or righteousness by works. He did that, i believe, because he had such a intimate relationship with God that praying, like eating and showering and sleeping, are routine in his life. 

What made Daniel so disciplined in praying to God and praising Him? I think there is the God-reason, and the Daniel-reason. God-reason is simple. The book of Psalms is full of it so i won't spend time writing about it here. But if the God reason is so strong, why is it that sometimes we all falter in our prayer life? Something must be wrong in us that we fail to behold the Glory of God, hence we don't sense the need to come before Him in prayer.

Finally God revealed something to me.

My daily scheduled prayer is NOT primarily an act that I do, as one of the many things in the to-do-list to tick off, so that I can proceed to other things. It is really coming to have my spiritual hunger fed, my true need of relationship met, and to come to a point of dependence on Him. It is an intentional act of humbling and dependence, recognising that i can't go on without spending time with God. That if i choose to ignore this, I would inevitably head toward to dead end, a stone wall and the end of myself. It is also an intentional act of dropping all my agendas of that day, and come with an empty cup before Him, and have Him fill my cup. Finally, and most importantly, it is coming to the heavenly Father as a beloved child of His.

Total dependence and humility.

Be still my soul.

Praying with the Word.

Help me pray, O Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Running at the beach

I woke up at 6.30am today. Feeling quite heavy about the Bersih rally that is going to be held this afternoon in Dataran Merdeka. The last i heard, the police have started setting up road blocks and barricades across Stadium Merdeka to prevent people from having a peaceful protest for a clean and fair election. I opened my bible to the book of Daniel.

Bersih 2.0 Rally.

Crowds being chased by police. See, this is where you wish you can run fast and hard. :p

Daniel was a key politician during his time, and he had served two kingdoms in his lifetime - the Babylonian kingdom and the Persian kingdom. In both kingdoms, he excelled greatly as God's favour rests upon him. From the interpretation of dreams to the defiance of the king's order, he displayed a spirit that is counter-culture at that time. Yet this is not a case of person who is only good in spiritual things but falters in his public and political affairs. The bible said he was a great man for his work.

'Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him'. Daniel 6:3

Oh how much do we need politician like Daniel, someone who understands and can interpret the times, and someone whose wisdom, power and principles come from God Himself.

I spent some time praying for our country. After that, i slipped into my running gear and headed to Coolum Beach on my scooter. It was cold riding early in the morning, and my hands and feet were freezing!

The beach is beautiful. It's flat sand as far as the eyes could see. At that hour, there were already quite a number of people in the beach, most of them are old people walking their dogs and some occasional joggers. I started running slowly along the shore, making my strides as light and as easy as possible. The sun was glaring, reminding me of the Glory of God. I did not feel much pain on both my knees then, other than this nagging pain in my right Achilles tendon (which i strained it when i was skipping rope the night before). I ran about 5km before i made a U-turn to where i started. About 3km on my way back, I started feeling quite severe pain on my right knee and right Achilles tendon. I had to stop. I ran about 8km today. Quite a good effort i think, considering the fact that i am still injured.

I wish i can run longer, but i would not push it for now. Just got to be thankful that i can run at all. :)

My running partner

'Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.. And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threegold cord is not quickly broken.' Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Jeremy boy - one of my best friends since IMU. We instantly clicked when asked to run the road relay for our batch in 2006. We trained together, ran in KESAS highway and Commonwealth park, pulled our friends along to join us, and shared our past running experiences. Somehow, i could relate to him in a deep level that running isn't just a sport that we do for health reasons or to look good. There is just an underlying love for the pure experience of putting one foot in front of the other in a repetitive manner, as though we are in a long journey to discover something. That 'something' could be ourselves, our limitations, our pain thresholds, the enemies within us, or  even the horizon beyond us. Now there is no end-point in this. It is just a journey - a journey that will not end till the day we meet our Maker. That year, even though we came in 4th place in IMU cup road relay, the bond that was created remained.

 The road relay team 2006. (Elizabeth is not in the picture)

Later we served together in Infinity Milers - a running and mountain climbing club in IMU. Our first semester of serving was challenging. Inexperienced and overly enthusiastic (ok that's mainly me), we could not impart the essence of running and mountain-climbing to the juniors. Later on, i did some hard reflecting and shared it with him and the committee. Half of the committee caught on the vision and the other half did not. So the half that did persevered. In the end, i am glad to say that we did manage to pass the essence of running and mountain- climbing down to the juniors.

The last training session that we had with the juniors.

We took part in many races together. Most of the times, it is solo races, ie we run on our own  pace. Jeremy boy sometimes struggles with being disciplined in his training. So he could not run his best. He usually responded in a cheeky or half-guilty half-playful way when i asked him about his training.

 Hulu-Langat Eco-Challenge 2008

Our Trans-Titiwangsa Climb in 2008, organised by Raymun and Roderick. 

 The most memorable race that we took part together was in 2008. Then, we recognised that it was our last year in IMU together and that could possibly be the final race that we would run together. IMU Cup Road Relay 2008. We made a promise that we would do it together. Prior to the race i injured myself. But that did not stop me from running the race. I trained as much as i could, so did he.

We were faced with strong teams from M107-bmed combined team (which boosts of Patrick and Jackie, Jolene and Joanne - all MAPCU runners) and the Pharmacy team (which boosts of Pang Tseng, Jothpal, Rachel (my gf!), and Sharon - all of whom are MAPCU runners as well). In our team, only J boy, Sheahlin and i have experience in MAPCU.

The race was tight. All three teams above were favourites in the race. There didn't seem to be too much of a difference between the teams in terms of overall strength and speed; it was down to who performed well that day. Our strategy was to play catching up, but lining up our runners from the slowest to the fastest. By being the one who trails, there is psychological force pushing us to our limits. Before the race, i told the team that we were underdogs, as not all of us were in top conditions, but we would be dogs that bite.

Prep talk before the race.

The M206 team (2008)

True enough, Kim - our first runner, came back third, behind PangTseng and Patrick (both top class runners in IMU). Then Chee Ying went against Sharon and Jolene. She maintained the position. Then it was J boy against Benjamin and Zhi Ven. J boy did a fantastic job by catching up with Benjamin and shortening the distance between him and Zhi Ven. He told me that he thought about our promise when he was running. Then he passed the baton to Sheahlin. Sheahlin is a crazy runner. She was running against Rachel (who was behind her) and Joanne (who was ahead of her). She is known for squeezing out the last ounce of energy in a race, and she almost leveled the race for me - the final runner. (I was told that she collapsed after passing the baton to me, and mumbled in a semi-comatose way: Pray for Jimmy.) I was running against Jackie - a long time competitor, MAPCU team-mate and friend. He is a great runner. Being not in the best shape, i was apprehensive about the race, especially there was not any lead for me. I remembered both of us passed by Rachel - and she said: 'Go, Jimmy'. That was a tremendous encouragement for me. My race strategy was just to try my best to keep up with Jackie throughout the race, and leave the decider of the race to the last minute. At the turn, we were still running together. On our way back to the finish line, i was constantly thinking of God, my loved ones, my team mates, the word of encouragement from Rachel when we last saw her, and J boy. I know he had given his best, so nothing short of my best is acceptable in this case. At last, it was a final down slope, and a final straight to the finish line. Then, i mustered all that i could, and started to sprint together with Jackie. I knew God had prepared the moment for me, and He empowered me at the right time to finish the race. I crossed the finish line. Victory.

The shoot-off. Patrick (middle), PangTseng (extreme right), Kim (between them)

Kim coming back third. Passing on to Chee Ying.

Chee Ying maintained the same position. Passing on to J Boy.

J Boy coming back second. Passing on to Sheah Lin.

Sheahlin almost leveled the position. It was down to me.

The final sprint and victory.

Remembrance of our promise.

Looking back, it was the promise that we both made to each other that allowed us to finish the race. J Boy is a great runner, and a great friend. He has taught me so many things in this friendship. His quiet, unasumming nature has earned my respect for him, and he is always one of the first persons to come to my mind when i think about racing, or climbing mountains. During our IMU days, i don't remember doing any major climb or race without him. He had always been there, through rain or shine, good times or bad times. The memories that we have both created would always remain deep in my heart.

Now both of us have signed up for Northface 100 in Singapore in October. And the funny thing is, we are both injured. He injured himself after running 25km and 10km back to back in Singapore in May, and he is having moderate to severe pain in the fibular head. I had described my injury below. Will we recover in time to prepare adequately for the race? Will we once again dig deep into ourselves and discover the strength we never thought we had? Will we continue to inspire each other to something beyond ourselves? I hope we do.

Jeremy Boy, or in short J Boy, is and will always be my running partner. :)