Big Feast at Birthday BBQ and New Balance HomeTeam NS Real Run 2008

Big Feast at Birthday BBQ of The Married Soldier:

The Married Soldier celebrated his birthday with a barbecue - an activity which I have not had for many years since few people organize good barbecues as there are a lot of preparation work involved. But Saturday night was a good one - plenty of food, good pit fire, lots of drinks, mosquito coils to chase away those flying bloodsuckers and a nearby water tap to wash all the grim away. I had not the time to buy a proper birthday present for The Married Soldier so I made myself useful at the barbecue by helping out as much as I could.

Pardon the camera phone I was using because it was hard to capture in the poor light conditions and oily slippery fingers. There was a lot of food around - kebab sticks, banana slices wrapped in bacon, satay sticks, chicken wings, cheese-filled sausages, sweet potatoes, pork slices, orange cordial, cucumber slices, etc.
The barbecue pit fire was well-maintained for there was only a small fraction of the food was burnt - most of it was deliciously cooked over the nice charcoal fire.
The hand belongs to a friend of The Married Soldier who was very good with cooking. Both of us were cooking with one hand, and eating with the other. It was really fun as we inspected the food in the semi-darkness illuminated only by the glow of the pit fire.
This was only one of the two trays of food that we managed to cook. There was a lot to eat and obviously we could not finish. And no, that long thing is not a sausage but a stick of youtiao. Why is it there? Because The Married Soldier wanted to see if such things could be barbecued - it could be because I ate one half of it after it was done. All in all, I gobbled two chicken wings, three sausages, one kebab stick and twenty satay sticks. A glutton right? I wished I could eat more but I have a 10km run the next morning so overeating is not a good option that night.
This was the birthday cake for The Married Soldier. Although it was delightful, I don't know what it's called. All I know it was some chocolate cake with a biscuit base from Four Leaves Bakery.

New Balance Home Team NS Real Run 2008:

I went for the 10km run at the behest of The Busy Bee because she could not find anyone to accompany her for one of the toughest run in Singapore - a cross-country trail at Changi area so I went - wanting to find out what such runs are all about and whether I could survive one given the fact that I am not a great runner myself.

I don't have photographs to show during the run because the sun was so hot and the run was so full of people that I did not want to risk knocking my camera phone off onto the hard, rocky trail but the 10km run was really impressive - good scenery, challenging terrain and a good mix of runners. The terrain was alternating between soft sand, deep sand, rocky roads, hard roads, coastal sands, nature trail and I was thoroughly enjoying myself pounding through all those terrain challenges.

The Busy Bee had a harder time because she was still nursing a strange humming pain from her leg so we had to stop frequently to walk. She persisted and we finished the race in a approximately 1 hour and 26 minutes. I only managed to take three photos because I was too sleepy - I had to wake up at 3.45am to prepare myself but it was worthwhile experiencing such a run.

This was taken at around 6am this morning. It shows the nearby water features of Changi Exhibition Centre. I was on a shuttle bus and there were many people onboard, catching up on sleep or wolfing down breakfast before the run at 7.30am.
This was Exhibition Hall One, relatively empty with only about one hundred people inside. It was to change very quickly and the hall was packed with runners of all ages and groups by 7am. I was slumped against the wall, trying to stretch my legs whilst waiting for The Busy Bee to take a cab down.
This was taken after the run was completed. The hall was full of runners resting after the gruelling trail. We saw one girl being stretched off in the hall whilst the ambulances were heard wailing their sirens a couple of times during the run itself. I hope the casualties would recover well. The Busy Bee and I left the place with our goodie packs at around 10am and we ate a slow, tired lunch at White Sands Pasir Ris before we headed home.

My legs are still aching from the run as I type this but I think I'll be running this run again next year round because it's fun and very different from the normal clock of everyday life.