Marathon Chronicles: Create Champions

When I signed up for the Sydney Marathon and chose Create Foundation as the beneficiary for my run, a lady from the organisation sent me an email of thanks and wished me luck with the run and the fundraiser. A few days ago, I received a package in the mail from Create, which solved my dilemma about which shirt I should wear for the run.

Represent!

It was interesting timing too. I was just getting ready for a training run and was looking for a shirt to wear when the courier arrived with the package. So I slipped the shirt on and took it for a 16K test run and it passed the comfort test. No chafing, moisture-wicking, and a perfect fit.

This small gesture of sending a shirt (and water bottle) made me feel very much part of the Create Champions team, and it was inspiring to be recognised for the small feat I'm trying to achieve. To the team at Create, I really appreciate the package you've sent, and will wear the shirt proudly on race day.

The goal is to raise $1,100 for Create Foundation, and we are currently at $432.10. We just need another $667.90 to reach it. If you would like to contribute towards the fundraiser for Create (or know of people who do), you can click here for more details.

Maraming salamat!

Marathon Chronicles: C is for Cookie, That's Good Enough for Me

Time and again I have told every single person I know that my sister makes the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies in the world. In fact, when I retire early at 40 and open up a café, her cookies will definitely be behind the counter for people to order. I don't care where she is in terms of her career when that happens; she needs to drop everything and come work for me and get paid a nominal amount because we're family. I jest. But seriously, her cookies are incredible: moist, chewy (just the way I like it) and chockfull of chocolate chips. In fact, I reckon there would be more chips on those cookies now that my brother and I aren't there to help ourselves to the bag prior to baking.

So why am I talking about my sister's cookies? Recently, she and my brother's girlfriend baked a massive batch of the cookies to sell at their weekly market stall in Singapore. Not surprisingly, they sold heaps. And, being the fantastic people they are, they donated their earnings to my fundraiser for CREATE Foundation!

The fundraising cookies

I am so humbled by the support that people have shown towards the fundraiser for my first marathon. Efforts such as these truly inspire me to make sure I reach the finish in September, and they definitely provide me with the push I need to get going. Many thanks to my sister and Denvie, and to everyone who has contributed to the fundraiser so far. I really appreciate all your support.

As for training, I'm planning an LSD run tomorrow, and augmenting my self-made, experimental program with much needed cross training and strength. Yesterday, I became a member at my local gym (open 24 hours!) and went for my first session this morning. It was a great break from the running, which to be honest, was starting to feel very much like a chore. Don't get me wrong; I love to run, but what was missing was all the cross training I used to get from mountain biking while I was in the Philippines. The gym allows me to recharge my running batteries, and gives me a chance to strengthen my body holistically, which I'm very happy about. It was interesting being on a spin bike this morning--pedalling while watching the news--two activities I've never done simultaneously before. Until this morning. First time for everything.

If you would like to donate to the fundraiser for my first marathon, please visit my fundraiser site by clicking here. There you can see more information about the organisation I'm running for, CREATE Foundation. All your donations go directly to them. Thank you!

Day Two: Undara Experience

PWW Note: This is Day Two of the Epic Capricorn Coast Road Trip. Click on these links to go to the Intro and Day One.




When I was in my early 20s, I remember becoming acutely aware of moments when I found myself in the midst of an event--be it big or small--that before, was a mere figment of my imagination. To me, it felt like the end of a thought's journey, when a concept becomes tangible; the physical manifestation of a desire. I'll go ahead and say it's the Law of Attraction demonstrated. Day two of our trip certainly falls under this category.

During the first few weeks when we moved to Cairns, Mrs. PWW and I rented a car to go for a drive and see the local sights. At the rental office was a wall of brochures for tourist spots, advertising local destinations for tourists to visit. One of the brochures that caught my attention was for "Australia's Accessible Outback". The wife saw it and said she's been there (she's been everywhere) and that we should go one day.

That "one day" has now come, and we were driving to Undara Experience. (I just found out that "Undara" is an aboriginal word meaning "a long way." Very apt.)

ON THE ROAD WITH UNSCHEDULED STOPS

Paronella Park was the farthest I've driven south since moving to Far North Queensland, so the rest of the drive from here is uncharted territory for me. With over 200 kilometres to drive to get to Undara, we stopped by a random roadside on the Atherton Tablelands, right beside vast tea fields, to make a phone call. Reception was starting to get intermittent, and to drive the distance only to find out that we have no spot to pitch a tent would be annoying, to put it mildly. The travel gods have looked upon our spontaneous itinerary with favour, and we were able to reserve one campsite out of the final two left.

We were going to Undara. Things have come full circle since that fateful day of searching through travel advertisements.

Westward we drove along quiet, almost deserted country roads. We felt like the only travellers in such a massive expanse of land where the only eyes that stared at you belong to livestock. Entertainment came mostly in the form of music playing in the car stereo, from old bands of my youth like Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Blind Melon. The missus was taking snapshots when towering structures suddenly broke through the horizon.

It was a wind farm.

Windy Hill. The first of many unscheduled stops.

Back in 2008 (I guess), Mrs. PWW and I tried to get to the wind farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, during a trip we took with her folks to Vigan. Unfortunately, a spanner was thrown in the works of our carefully planned schedule thanks to a broken radiator hose. We didn't make it Bangui, but managed to get to the airport in time for our flight. As we stood in front of the gargantuan turbines in Windy Hill, I could only imagine the ones in Ilocos Norte to be as breathtaking.

I stepped out of the car and because I experienced a failure in observing the obvious, the car door almost slammed me back inside because I did not expect it to be windy, having been ensconced in a fully enclosed sedan. Crushed bones averted, we ran through the chilly blast of wind and frolicked (the best word to describe what we did) in the grass, taking photos of the farm. We were on the road and this was the first of what we imagine would be plenty of interesting, unplanned pitstops. And speaking of pitstops, we needed one soon, to sate our empty bellies.

Quite literally, we drove past the small town of Mount Garnet. We were moving slowly along its main street, looking for a place to eat when we suddenly realised we ran out of main street to drive on. Blink and you'd miss it. I chucked a u-ey (made a U-turn) and stopped in front of a small bakery. Little did I know that the bakery would change my mind in such a spectacular fashion.

Vibrant. The Shire Hall at Mount Garnet.

It was here that I had my first taste of apple turnover with fresh cream. I've read about it in books, I've seen it on movies and TV shows, but never have I truly understood the magic that is an apple turnover with fresh cream (always with fresh cream) until I was licking the powdery white sugar from my fingers, trying to chase the taste of heaven long after it has gone down my gullet.

A few times my wife has told me that I may have been an Australian during a previous life, as I assimilated with the culture so effortlessly. She said this after I ordered an iced coffee, a meat pie, and an apple turnover with fresh cream for lunch which apparently, is very Aussie. But thing is, had there been a karinderya beside the bakery that served tinola or KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka) it would've been a different story.