Quick Post on Melbourne Marathon 2013

For the third year, I signed up for 5.7 km run sponsored by Medibank Health Solutions also formally known as Melbourne Marathon Festival. I started my first run back in 2011 and that was before I joined Fitness First. Ever since I started living in Australia, I have become more health conscious. I started worrying about my general well being even though I regularly go for general health check and thank God, my results are fine presently but you can never be too careful. Afterall, with all the money in the world, you can't buy health unless you eat gold caviar every day since the day you were born. I was just bull****ing.

Anyways, I can't remember how did I stumble upon Melbourne Marathon 3 years ago. Well, let's be honest, I'm not THAT good with my running skills so I will not sign up for full marathon sponsored by Medibank Health Solutions anytime soon or even in the remaining life I have. I can't do half marathon sponsored by Flight Centre either mainly because you need extensive training for that and I didn't have much time to train. 10 km which is sponsored by Coffee Club is also too much for me. Geez, 5 km is better than 3 km walk ok! and that's how I decided to sign up for 5 km run in 2011. It was also a test to my fitness level. I started training twice a week for 2 months in order to get my body (legs muscle) to get ready for the hit. I did one in the evening after work and one in the morning along the beach in st kilda. The view when you run along the beach is priceless!

This is what I'm talking about

Ok, this one is abit of a photoshop. I took this during a very gloomy day but it looks like a painting!

Ok, this one is more like it.

I like to run along st kilda beach because it is not only beautiful but very close to the city too hence it is so easily accessible. You see many people bringing their dogs for a walk and running with their babies in prams.

Even with those 2 months training, I completed my first run ever with massive effort and I literally felt like I was out of breath!

Second year I joined in 2012, they increased the course to 5.7 km sponsored by ASICS. They also moved the finishing line inside Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Although the course is longer, however the satisfaction of finishing inside MCG was pretty rewarding as the supporters cheered on you from the seats. I hadn't joined the gym as well when I signed up for 5.7 km run in 2012.
After my second year of running, I started experiencing knee cap issue and I went to see my physiotherapist many times to fix it. He just shook his head from side to side when I told him I joined the 5.7 km. Let's wind back a few years... I had car accident in the past and since then my knee hasn't been the same. I haven't visited a doctor to get a scan done on my knee partly because I don't think it is a big issue yet but I believe it will be in the future (NOT TO BE TRIED OUTSIDE). Trust me, when it comes to your body, you should always visit a physician as soon as you start experiencing some problems.

My physiotherapist said not to do it again as the harsh impact of the ground is bad for my knee and he said I should start doing some exercise to strengthen my core muscles. I agreed and that's when I decided to join Fitness First. It's been almost a year now since I started and I've been doing body attack, body combat and body jam classes. Occasionally I do do body balance as well just to break off the routine. Honestly, since I joined the gym, I have more knee issues, partly due to my incorrect knee bending posture as my knee tends to bend inwards as opposed to outwards. My physio did some tests and he said my hips strength is really weak and I need to work on that to avoid using lower legs muscles too much which could further damage my cartilage. Since then, I've been cutting down from 3 days of exercise to 2 days a week to avoid doing further damage to my knee.

Little did my physio know that I signed up for my third year of 5.7 km run! If he knew, he would probably not see me anymore. Sorry Andrew!

This year, I only trained once a week for a month and a half before the day as I am going to the gym one day a week as well on top of my once a week training. I still need to be careful with my knee to avoid using a wheelchair prematurely! I found that my fitness level has improved a lot compared to 3 years ago even with my bad knee. Strange thing is, my knee doesn't hurt when I walk or run, only when I bend down or walk down the stairs.
For the past 2 years, the weather on the Marathon festival has always been good and mostly sunny. Last year, it drizzled alittle bit in the morning but it settled down before we started running and it became sunny during the course BUT this year a.k.a today, the weather has never been nastier! It was pouring rain in the morning and if it wasn't for my wind breaker, I would be so drenched in the rain!
Unfortunately, due to the flood, part of the route was not accessible and the management decided to cut the course to 3km run instead. It was a mixed response from a lot of participants as it was quite disappointing for people who come very prepared and eager but for some people who doubt themselves, it was a relief. Me, I had mixed feelings of whether I should be overjoyed or disappointed. I should be overjoyed because I get to go harder in a shorter distance or I should be disappointed because this could be my last year running. I need to accept the fact that my knee may continue to trouble me in the future and I need to get it examined soon.

I am proud to say that as an amateur runner, my finishing position was 1812 among 6800++ participants for 3 km course and I finished it in 19 minutes and 32 seconds. The amazing winner of Melbourne full 42 km Marathon finished the run in 2 hours and 10 minutes! Man, that fellow doesn't need a car!

Starting line of the race. All these people were drenched including me!

The finish line. By this time, I was running out of breath already!

After I found my friend who joined the run with me.

Left to right, 2011 5 km run, 2012 5.7 km run and 2013, supposedly 5.7 km cut to 3km course.

Overall, I am very proud of myself to have been a apart of this major event in the past 3 years.
Melbourne marathon is supporting Celebral Palsy Education Centre which provides physical, occupational and speech therapy for their students who suffer from physical disability from a very young age. Every year, Melbourne Marathon Festival supports different charity organisations and when you sign up for the run, there is an option to give extra donation for your preferred charity organisation.
You can sign up in groups as well and represent your companies or non-for-profit organisations or even your own countries if you fly from overseas just to join the festival which I am not surprised, a lot of people do.

For more information for next year's festival, you can click here to find out more.

Gonna end this post with a photo of me (yes, narcist) from a wedding I attended last night

Well, those tissues at the background is very annoying but I was in a rush, couldn't retake the photo :(

P.S: Hope everyone had a great weekend! <3 p="">

Royal Melbourne Show 2013

First time I visited the Royal Melbourne show was in 2009. Now, 4 years later, I revisited again and this is abit funny to me. The first time I visited the Royal Melbourne show was when I was still with my ex-boyfriend. 4 years later, after 3 years of being single and gazillion times of heartbreaks, I have finally found someone and we'll save that story for another time :)

So today, I went to the showground again, with my new company.

The Royal Melbourne Show is held in Melbourne Showground every year around September and usually it goes on for a couple of weeks. This festival is suitable for family, friends who just want to have fun and young couple who want to explore new things. It has everything in it from theme park rides to food exhibitions, body, mind and spirit exhibitions and even livestock exhibitions. It is also renowned for the dog grooming show, dog competitions, dog pageant show and dog merchandise. Of course who can forget showbags for children where a whole massive tent is set up to sell cartoon heroes' merchandise.

The entrance fee is not very cheap either. For adult non-concession, it is $34 pp and there's a family value pack too. Melbourne now lives up to the name for the 4th most expensive city to live in the whole world. No 1 is Tokyo, 2 is Osaka and 3 is Sydney. No surprise at all. Anyways, back to to the topic.

It's a great place to spend your money on your kids and girlfriends. They have several games you can play to win some soft toys for your kids or girlfriends. Remember those arcade games you play where you try to throw 5 basketballs into the ring and if you can get one in, you score a toy? Those sorts of stuff with varieties. It costs $5 each game.

Unfortunately I didn't bring my proper camera so all photos below were taken by my good ol' iPhone 5 with camera application, Camera 360 and I used HDR & Enhance filters interchangeably.

I was so glad that it was such a good weather today on top of 21 degree after days with showers this week. I remember in 2009 when I went there, it was horrible cold weather and showered towards the evening. You can see my old post in 2009 where I wrote about Royal Melbourne Show and Tesselar Tulip festival. How much things have changed in my life but the Royal Melbourne Show remains the same even after 4 years.

This section is sponsored by Advance dog food company where they show many different dog breeders, I think mostly private. They were the cutest bunch ever! So many different dogs in this section but unfortunately I couldn't take as many photos as I wanted as I was only using my iPhone to take photos :( This is my most-craved type of dog apart from German Sheppard and Husky.

These dogs were preparing to join dog pageant competition.

Now, this is new. Well, for me this year. In 2009 when I went there, this Masterchelf Australia set up wasn't here. I've seen it in the TV but I didn't know it was filmed in Melbourne Showground. I thought it was somewhere really far. This is pretty cool as we got to see the set up for MasterChef Australia and one of the current contestants was there to take some photos with his fans. If I remember correctly, I think it was Lynton Tapp. I don't follow the show, so I didn't ask to take a photo.

Tadahhh, the kitchen where the masterchef contestants produce their masterpiece! It was just like what I saw in the TV. Pretty cool setting they have here.

I suppose this is the area where the judges taste on the food which contestants produce and deliberate the results.

Real herbs.. How cool is that? You can just pick some and throw it in the frying pan for the show.

We've seen this in the TV where they filmed from the top. Symbol of MasterChef Australia. Unfortunately, I am not tall enough to get a full view of it. Looks really nice from the top.

Enough of Master Chef. Let's move on to the theme rides. The rides cater for children and both adults. Some are only for children and some are only for adults or above 12yo  I believe.

I am always fascinated by Ferris wheel for some reasons. I find it so.. Calming and it makes you happy when you are high above. I always feel sad though when the carrier reaches the ground and the time is up.

One of the food exhibitions and the awesome part is, it is THE best time to sample food! From chips, sausages, coffee, olive oil & dressings, jams, beef, wine, yum! All sorts of food and they also have a huge food court which suits every taste buds! In 2009, it was so packed that people started sitting on the floor to enjoy their food because it was raining and everyone wanted to stay indoor. Great for the business I suppose.

Sampling on a gourmet sausages. The sausage was so yum and it has that smokey aftertaste that I can never forget.

I know, this is so disorganised. Anyways, more rides! I don't think I can ever do one of those again. Every year, as I get older, I feel like I'm more prone to heart attack if I ride on one of those. I won't deny the thrill though.

Well, let me take back my words, maybe if I have to, I'd rather do one of those rather than this one. I'm gonna step down with green face or throw up mid air. Hmm, not gonna be very glamorous I can guarantee.

There's so much more to do there but I don't want to be a spoiler. You have to experience it yourself if you haven't already been there. It's quite a fun place to spend on your weekend with your loved ones or friends. Royal Melbourne Show is accessible via train to Showgrounds or tram route 57 to west Maribyrnong which you can take from Melbourne city on Elizabeth st.

Finally, ending my post with my gigantic camwhore selfie!

Hope you guys had a great weekend like I did :) I think it is important to get ready for the dreading week again! Have a great week y'all~~~~

Hello Friday, Outfit of the Night

I hope everyone is having a great weekend ahead! 

Jacket: from my hometown

Mermaid body hugging dress from MNG

Belt from Temt

Accessories: Diva

Sydney Trip 2013 day 2 (Madame Tussauds & Hurricane's Grill)

I have just done it again... I can't believe I let a 6-month gap to update my Sydney trip day 2 and bear in mind this trip was 6 months ago!! Zzzzz

Oh well, I have a valid excuse! A very cliche one too! I've been super busy and depressed with the status of my stay in Australia. So please forgive me if I have abandoned my blog once again. Now that everything is kind of settled (fingers crossed) for now, I started thinking about my poor blog and visited it just then, which I realised I haven't updated my day 2 Sydney trip! Oh yaya~~~

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I still remember what I did that day and also, a gazillian photos later, the memory will come. That's why there's a saying of "A picture could represent a thousand words". Not in my case anyways, how long can I write? God, people may be bored by my words.

Moving on,

we got up in the morning, met up with my highschool alumni friend and started walking to China town to get some brekkie. We decided a bowl of good old congee would sate our cravings. Hence, my friend brought us to this yummy Chinese restaurant in China town and we had some century egg congee with Chinese doughnuts and another bowl of fish congee to share. Honestly the fish congee wasn't great but the century egg congee was ah-mazing! Well, I know a lot of people aren't quite used to the idea of some CENTURIES old eggs but guys, trust me, it's not that bad! It certainly doesn't taste like rotten eggs at all! It certainly doesn't mean it's been preserved for "CENTURIES". It's just a name and how much can a name hurt you? Just close your eyes and swallow it in. It's not like the Philippine's embryo eggs. THAT, I wouldn't try in a million years.

Voila! Yummy congee with Chinese doughnuts at the back. Dining there is really cheap too! Very affordable and I am talking about students' price.

A photo of China town in Sydney.
My travel partner who shares the same birthday with me and also one of my best friends :)

Next, we were taking a walk down to the entertainment centre near darling harbour. I remember on that day, there was a Thai festival going on and my friend who has been living in Sydney since high school told me that every week, there's always a cultural festival around the area and this week happens to be a Thai festival.

There's a small tent set up where you have the option to dress up in traditional Thai costume for free and I couldn't be bothered to try because it was freaking hot and I was sweating (gross).

After refreshing myself with some fresh coconut water (it was a hard work to scrape the coconut meat out in case anyone hasn't tried, but all the hard work paid off because it tasted so yummy!).

We continued down to darling harbour as we planned to visit Madame Tussauds' exhibition in Darling Harbour. The location is literally next to Sydney Aquarium and wild life. My friend works there and apparently he had free entries for us as he had been gathering some points for free entry vouchers and he happened to have 3 of them, PERFECT! Otherwise, it was pretty expensive to get in :(

That's me excitingly smiling when I arrived to the beautiful darling harbour.

FYI, Madame Tussauds exhibition displays life-sized celebrity waxes. They are made as real as possible and the heights are according to the real celebrities' heights. They are not perfect of course, but as far as I concern, they looked pretty real to me. Below will be the celebrities waxes whom I was interested to take pictures with. There are heaps others, but I didn't want to take every single one. My camera would probably run out of battery and memory if I did,

Hmm, I actually have no idea who this is and I have no idea what I was trying to do either. I guess when my friends came up with interesting poses, I went blank and I was trying to create the look of "My Lord, we need to abandon this ship, quick!" I believe I failed miserably.

and here I failed again, tried to create a dictator look.

I suppose I don't need to explain who this is, it's Mahatma Gandhi along with Dalai Lama and Barack Obama at the back. This section represents world leaders.

Now, THE Queen Elizabeth II of England. Well, she looks younger in the wax version.

How gorgeous Kylie Minogue is!! I love the shell she's sitting on. Looks so gracious.

Pardon me but I forgot who they are, I just thought this would be a cool picture lol

and how can we not have the legendary MJ! The hat is part of the props by the way, there's also a white jacket people could put on to take a photo and there's also a professional photographer to take a photo for you and you can buy them at the counter once you exit the exhibition.

Next we have...  Keith Urban

That was me with Albert Einstein. Since I am not as smart as him, I have to think trice harder to figure out what's in his head. Let alone to solve the formula behind me on the board.

Well, I personally reckon this is the least resemblance of Oprah Winfrey. I was abit disappointed frankly speaking.

and we've got the legendary beauty Marilyn Monroe. Some perverts were trying to take a photo posing underneath her skirt. Such an act of disgrace.

I frankly have no idea who this is... Maybe most people do know but I don't. Anyway, she is pretty and petite next to me. I feel like a giant. For once.

PPPPPPPoker face PPPoker face... May I present to you Lady Gaga!

"Isn't she lovely... This Hollywood girl.. And she says, she's so lucky, she's a star but she cries cries cries in her lonely nights~~" Britney Spears.

This is also the least resemblance of Rihanna but I didn't expect Rihanna to be this tall.

Our martial art guru after Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan

Nicole Kidman, posing in a different section away from her husband, Keith Urban and behind her is Bruce Willis.

The sexy Johnny Depp but looks like his jacket is a little oversize, don't you think?

This is a funny and awkward photo with people staring at us behind the camera. I suggested the scenario for us to seduce Brangelina couple with my friend trying to kiss Angelina Jolie and me stealing Brad Pitt away. In the end, Angelina Jolie is too tall for my friend to kiss and Brad Pitt wasn't looking at my direction. Epic fail! Oh well, we tried. I guess the brood is keeping them together.

Well, at least in the end, we found our "true love".

With me, who ended up with Andy Lau, Hong Kong singer and actor.

and my friend, with Dannii Minogue. Everyone went home happy lol

The love of my life, Leonardo DiCaprio. Although, he didn't look quite like himself in this wax version of him. At least, this is better than nothing. This is what they put at the front entrance so that the general public knows what Madame Tussauds is all about.

There's many more other celebrities in there but like I said, I couldn't take a photo of every single one because I can't be bothered editing all photos.

We also sneaked in to see the wildlife which is located just next to Madame Tussauds and Sydney Aquarium. Nothing extraordinary in there, just typical reptiles, insects and other kinds of animal which you'll normally see in a zoo.

We decided that we were alittle bit hungry, so we went to Pancake on the Rock to have some, well Pancakes, duh!

Yum yum yum! Looking at it now makes me feel hungry again. I just had my dinner!!! I can't remember the name of this pancake. Something to do with double chocolate. They were chocolate pancakes too. Not the original ones. Very yum and very fattening too! I was halfway through and I felt like the pancakes have reached my throat. Lucky enough we were sharing.

I believe there are 2 sites of Pancake on the Rocks in Sydney CBD. One in Darling Harbour and the other one in the Rock.

http://www.pancakesontherocks.com.au/

There you go, just visit their website for your research purposes if you plan to visit Sydney.

We then walked down to the star, Sydney's casino to visit the infamous celebrity patisserie's bakery called Adriano Zumbo. Apparently the macaroons are very popular so I bought a couple to try on and they were not that bad, however I wouldn't say they were extraordinarily delicious too. However, the macaroons have glitters on them! And yes, the glitters are edible I believe. I am a living proof.

After a few hours later with I believe some pancakes still left lingering in our stomach, we managed to work our way through to make some room for our biggest feast of the night, HURRICANE's GRILL!!
Click on it if you want to visit their website and find out their location too. They are most well known for their ribs. I can tell you now, they do live up to the name.

The window view from our table. The huge ship over there is a restaurant. I always wanted to try every single time I make a trip to Sydney and I never have a chance. Hmph!

I know I know, not the best photo I've taken till date but anyways, you know what it is. If I remember correctly, it is a 500 grams pork ribs served with mushroom sauce I think. Look, it's some 6-month ago already. I can't remember what sauce but I'm fairly sure it's mushroom cream sauce.

Believe it or not ladies and gentleman, I finished it gracefully with a pair of knife and fork lol without creating much mess at all! Yes, I deserve to receive a praise lol Well, honestly, it's best eaten with your bare hands rather than all those effort trying to scrape the meat from the rib cage.

All in all, I had another yet satisfying trip in Sydney. I never get sick of it. Not sure how many times I've been there now and I just never get sick of it. However, I would think for 100 times before I decide to move there permanently as Sydney is much of a bigger city than Melbourne. Life there is always on a fast lane although I believe slower than other developed Asian countries, like China, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong but I am starting to be afraid of changes and uncertainly that may lie ahead of me if I move there.

Well, I will leave it up to the long path that still lies ahead of me, where ever it's gonna lead me to. I will cross the bridge when I get there.