2 hours long run

112 days to SCM2011 bold
13 more long run to go, last long run will be 13 Nov 11 then follow by 3 weeks of rest.

Today is my 2nd long run, the first one was 9 Aug 11. I started the run at 0440 hr and ran 2 hrs. Total distance covered ~ 19.5 km based on my polar RS300 footpod. From house - along still road - Kembangan mrt - Bedok mrt - Tanah merah mrt - Tampines

Started the 10 km at 6:20 to 6:30 min/km pace, next ~ 7km at ~ 6:15 min and final 2 km < 6:00 min/km pace. Heart rate started at 160+, then raised to 171, final end ~ 176. If my footpod is accurate then it is not easy for me to maintain at 5:40 min/km pace. Hopefully in the weeks to come with all hard interval workout, I will feel easy on 5:40 min/km pace.

My approach: Run time instead of distance and 10 to 15 min increment on the long run each week.

In the coming week, hill interval and next Saturday 2 hr 10 min long run regardless of pace.

Before the extreme make over

Let me take you to a short guide around my house before the extreme make over that will take place in 8th October 08.


Living room to main door


Dining room to living room


Kitchen view from the living room


Another view of the kitchen

The search is on...

Way before we got the key to our new house, we had started searching for interior designer for extreme make over to our new house.

During a visit at Expo on 31st May, we saw many interior design companys there. We have no idea what to expect. On that day we met 2 interior designers from Orange Cube and Fuse Concept. They gave us a short introduction of interior designing and we handed our floor plan to them. A few weeks later, we met them again after they have came up with their idea for our house.

We read so much on the renovation forum, some people suggested look around, get more quotation and make comparison. After seeing Orange Cube and Fuse Concept, we were not certain if we wanted to settle with either one so the search for interior designer for the home is still on....

YongHowe introduced the interior designer that renovated his house - Flying Tom. This guy name Tom and wife who work from home. He showed us his work and asked us to look for more quotation to compare. He said he will be definitely be cheaper than others because he does not have a showroom that he has to pay rent. After meeting him, he told us to call him again after we have talked to the geomancer.

We were introduced to Anteroom which runs by 2 ladies. They have not propose any design but after seeing the initial quotation from them, we feel that it is relative more expensive than other interior designer so we didn't go ahead with them.

At this point, after going through all that, we are pretty much interested to proceed with Fuse Concept, we like the interior designer's ideas and most importantly when we gave him challenges that we have to follow the geomancer instructions to position the furniture, he is able to come up with innovation idea to solve. From that he gained our confidence. He wanted us to hack the store between our master bedroom and bedroom and that space will be used for wardrobe and bookshelf. Both of us actually dislike the idea of hacking the store away because we have tons and tons of unsightly things. On the other hand, if the store is removed, it created a walk-in wardrobe and a glass door will be used. I like the idea of using glass door, it gives a very clean look. We considered a few weeks on this idea. Then at the meantime, we went to another interior designer Intra Design located at Bedok Central. I have to thank one of the interior designer there, when we were conveying what we want for the house to her, she proposed to build a L-shape wardrobe that seggrate the toilet and the bed.

The big purchase

On 27 Jun 08 was the first appointment at HDB to process the purchase of a $295 k square room located in a familiar place Bedok Reservoir Road which I will call my home after it is fully renovated in a few months time.

Details of this square room:
* Blk 140 Bedok Reservoir Road
* 4th floor
* Floor area 122 sq metre
* There is wet market, Mac Donalds, KFC and many coffeeshop
* Some 1 km away from Bedok Reservoir

On 8 Aug 08 (nice number 080808) was the second appointment where the key was finally handed to me and Vicky. After signing the document and got the keys, I didn't have any special feeling even I knew that I am going to be a flat owner. Because at the back of my mind, I know there are many many more years before I can fully pay up and call myself owner of the flat.

Prior to the day when we got the key, we had arranged a geomancer to our house to give us some opinion. It turned out that the house is just neutral for both of us. The main reason we got a geomancer as we hope to stay in the house in peace and harmony. I am not looking at being rich after changing the feng shui, just hope everything will go smoothly. After seeing the geomancer, we ended up with many limitations for the design of the house. Example bed, sofa, stove have to face a certain direction.

The layout of the house