thank you for your strength.

The past three days have been extremely fulfilling. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Not just physically, but mentally, and better friendships were built as well, and there are so many people I would like to thank.

On Sunday, I went with mommy to the Great Eastern Women's Run 2013, at MBS area. Being the one who doesn't like too much stress, the 5km fun race was the best option. We reached there late and I had to pee and change, so we were quite far from the start line, but I still enjoyed that feeling of racing very much.

I still remember that at the halfway mark, I was so shocked to see so many people ahead of me, so I chionged like mad but there were still plenty of people who were ahead of me from the start to the end. I timed myself the entire time, clocked 26:00 for 5km, which was quite surprising actually, because it's about 5min plus per kilometre, but the last time I ran sets of 1km, my timing was like 5-6min per km, so this run showed a huge improvement, which I'm proud of as well. I'm glad that all the running, weights and water trainings really made me push, especially for the last charge during the run. It was quite funny actually, because I sprinted at many points, thinking that the finishing line was ahead. But when I saw the actual finishing line, I just flew towards it. (Ego boosting time: The emcee said, "Look at that young girl, sprinting across the finishing line!") XP It's not often when you get such compliments, and it made my day hahahah. (Anyways the pictures of the GEWR are out, my face looked insane and mommy uploaded it to FB so the world could see it please don't laugh xiexie)

That was Sunday. I had a lovely coffee bean brunch after the run, and food never tasted so good before XD then I went to ahma's house and knocked off on the couch for at least two hours. Thank you to mommy, daddy and sis for cheering me on for the run, telling me to take care and jiayou! And to all the road marshalls, all the encouragement really helped! Every time they shouted "All the way" and "Come on", it felt like the team shouting during weights, running and water, and the result is always the same. You want to fight with them, you draw strength for them, you are a team. :)

Monday was land tutorial + water. Tutorial started at 9:30, and we were pretty much done with everything by 11+. I'm glad that the B girls got closer together when we chat and all, especially after joining Yingrui and Baohui during lunch. We played the traffic road game on the overhead bridge, and the passer-bys were like I'M JUDGING YOU but the JH3s were like LALALA YOUNG AT HEART. They are all really cute actually (I'm cute too :3 ), even those that I used to be terrified of.

And I showcased my eating skills :D I didn't have the heart to admit it that after the two bowls of rice and all the meat+veg+tofu+drinks, my stomach was still growling D: I think there's like some hole in my stomach that opens when I'm VERY VERY HUNGRY because sometimes I can't eat anything but sometimes I just can't be full. Then after another round of getting knocked down by cars by jaywalking on the overhead bridge, we went to the playground near Marymount MRT.

That's when sports tights come in handy. They cover your thighs so you don't get burnt because the sun was SO HOT AND BLAZING AND BURNING plus the fact I wore my orientation tee which was a beautiful shade of BLACK. We climbed on the ropes and played on the dish-like swing and the tiny flying fox. We took a couple of instavideos and some pictures, all of them unglam shots ;P

I swear that when Risa and Celeste was pushing the rope merry go round, they are like powerhouses, cause the thingy was rotating so fast we could only clutch on to the ropes for dear life and keep on screaming (more of baohui heh)

Then either Celeste or Yingrui left me swinging like mad on the dish-swing, they pushed like siao then ran away and left the poor young fabulous one shrieking like a stuck pig. Then my butt was like burning up cause heat travels through the tights after awhile, unfortunately.

After all the playing we remembered there was still training haiz I used up pretty much all my energy being a kid again. Celeste introduced me to the Cloudy Apple Juice thingy it tastes quite good. -still does not like carrot juice- we also got two large bottles of isotonic for training.

Okay finally it's time for water. 10km time trial, out of nowhere. It was freestyle so no one corrected my technique so I just anyhow whack the water, and that was the most painful 10km of my life. I was so tired that I thought I could fall asleep on the boat. I closed my eyes a few times for several seconds, and the next moment I'm about to crash into a buoy. Despite being in a Kape, my timing deproved by 55s. My PB then was 1:13:35, clocked in an AK.

Monday was still a really good day. Choowei and Risa are like a married couple, they stroke each others' hair and whisper sweet nothings and hug all the time it's so adorable I SHIP <3

Today is Tuesday and it was very, very good too. We had land in the morning, and it was full on weights, all stations to be cleared. I finally can drop to 10reps, but its 5 sets of 10 am I supposed to be happy but it's okay I should do more weights and build up the muscle so I can sink the peisheng down.

All the calluses from Monday's water were screaming in pain when I was using all the barbells. Bench pull was so bad, I had to force myself for all 5 sets using 10kg even though I felt like dying. But then last week's bench pull 10kg was still quite fine.. I guess it's yesterday's sad water performance affecting me this morning. But at least I'm not doing the seated bench and shoulder press. But I swear it's so hard, especially bench press. Even though it was 8.75kg per side, I needed either Ruiting/Yingrui or Siongyee/Claire to help push the bar up, or I can't even move. I just let it flop onto my chest because it was so painful that my arms were literally trembling.

Shoulder press was using the 5kg dumbbells. I need to work on my left arm, because I nearly dropped the left dumbbell halfway through the set, 'cause my arm couldn't take it anymore. It's quite sad that I'm only doing a 5kg, but it's more motivation to push during weights. Rollers weren't as bad because I had Yingrui's shoe supporting me, so I didn't have to crash onto the ground. Leg press, surprisingly, was alright. But 200pushups + 100 crunches wasn't the best way to end of weights. Every time we are punished, I keep telling myself that I can't do the same thing anymore, or I will feel guilty my entire life. I focused on the faces of the JH3s in my mind when I did the pushups, because I owe my huge improvement physically and in my attitude to them. Thank you guys, even though I used to blame you all for making me so tired from training and the expectations, it was also all of you who moulded me into who I am. You made me learn how to fight; how to push; how to be part of the family. I really, really appreciate it, thank you :)

It was about one and a half hours of rest after the weights session. I did a bit of my math; majority of my homework was done by the JH3s (guess who wasn't paying attention in class). Then it was time for ergo, except that we didn't start ergo so soon haha. The JH3s taught me how to play stacko/jingga (idk how to spell) and I must admit that I'm horrible at that. Crashed the tower the first two rounds, but Baohui lost two rounds consecutively because Risa helped me 50% of the time after my losing streak thank you for lessening my embarrassment :P

Fifteen minutes of ergo: it was my turn when Choowei came out soaking wet and announcing THIS WAS THE WORST FIFTEEN MINUTES OF MY LIFE and the bad thing was that I just finished dry paddling before ergo. It was quite mundane in a way, but I didn't have to worry about balance or anything so I could twist and kick a lot more than I could in a boat. Overall still quite fine hahas, Celeste was like I will let you know when the ten minute mark reaches then Yingrui and I were like hurry up we are dying from the suspense of not knowing how long more we have to paddle.

After ergo was a failed math homework session for me 'cause I forgot all the stuff about quadratic equations and indices so majority of the work was left blank (it's time to start working hard again and gain back the knowledge). Then Yingrui did some sheep game which I couldn't understand at all then all of them knew the SECRET behind it and they found it amusing to see me amused (LA skills in use here). Pfft bully the youngest one ><

After lunch was more stacko and singing songs. To my surprise Baohui could sing Cody Simpson songs that's good keep up the good work and continue to love my husband XD the stacko crashed onto my face during the final round, sadly. After the song and games party we went to buy bread at coro and I pretty much got killed dozens of times during the traffic game.

AND I AM A GENIUS (needs to have ego boosted) I figured out the sheep game secret after five hours or so of guessing at the toilet at Macritchie. Baohui said I could use the genius thingy to keep myself alive during training.

Speaking of training we did 12KM + surprise. I played Love Somebody in my head the entire twelve kilometres to keep myself going, it helped loads. My 10km timing within 12km was better than Monday's time, so it shows that as long as the mentality is there, you can do it. In fact, that 10km was a PB, I cut down 65seconds of the 10km timing in an AK. On my final lap, the others had started with the surprise, which was a 2km sprint set. When I finished my 12km I turned to start on the 2km when coach stopped me and I felt so relieved that I wasn't going to do 14km straight. Choowei paddled 14km straight, without any rest in between, it must be a hell lot worse for her than the others who had rest. It's really admirable that she would still go on despite being exhausted.

The entire team has been working very, very hard, including the juniors, I'm really proud of all of them. The feeling of racing as a team is so wonderful, so magical. I know I'm going to push hard, to fight with them, and I'm going to be a good senior to the younger ones. The most important thing is that they are happy, that they love the sport, they love the people, and they are willing to commit. It's not easy, but it's gonna be worth it.

To end off this post.
Thank you so much to the team for everything they've done for me, especially the JH3 girls. I apologise if I've ever offended any of you with my words, but I've always appreciated everything you've done for me, especially within these two weeks. Thank you for being such amazing teammates, wonderful seniors, and friends. Every single one of you showed me so many different things, each of you are unique in your own way that I could never imagine.

Thank you all the motivation and fight; being with me during hard times as well. It means so much to me, never forget that. And thank you for listening to my troubles, I take back my words that no one could understand what I felt. And each of you made me feel included, made me understand the feeling of being in a family, just like how the oneders did.

Now I shall go and listen to Hillsong and fulfil my promise to Baohui :)