Lady Frances in Malaysia : December 2014

Living in Malaysia has made me realize that wherever you are, it is still possible to be happy even though you are hundreds of miles away from your family and friends for the reason that you can build fresh connections and make new friends where you are. Leaving my comfort zone put me into a slight panic at first; I had a lot of questions on my mind like do I still get to enjoy the things that I do back home like hiking, swimming, running, cycling, Zumba and, most especially, traveling? And would there be new people whom I’m going to connect with and share the same interests? Can I survive Malaysia without my homesickness killing me? All of the questions were immediately answered the first day I stepped into ICTI and felt the warm welcome of everybody. Rapport was quickly established and I didn’t feel different at all; I easily blended in.

Our first run as a group, training day

One thing that really brought us close together was when Nurul, one of my colleagues, invited us to join the PJ Half Marathon Run. I was so excited that I signed up with no hesitation knowing that others from the officewere also interested to participate. At first we trained separately on our own, Harry and I updating on each other’s run, motivating each other every day to go further and train harder. Then the Orange Frog workshop happened and we decided to train together. Florence, Harry, Chan How, Hamida, Fitri,Nurul and I decided to set up a schedule for training after work and during the weekends. Empire Damansara, Mutiara Homes, DamansaraPerdana, and TTDI park became our training grounds. We also continued our after run bonding like going out for dinner or refreshments making the calories burn as our excuse where the hashtag #runtoeat was born. We actually ran to the nearest NasiLemak or Nasi Kukus to supply our body with carbs and protein! And, of course, the after-training selfies would never be missed out and posted on my Fitness Diary Album on Facebook; it’s not only a way for me to document our activities, but also a way for me to inspire others, to show themthat despite our busy schedules, if we are determined we can still squeeze in time to run or exercise.

After work night runs

The rain won't stop us from training

Nasi Kukus Run #runtoeat

TGIF walk before the run on Sunday, carbo loading fever!!!

A day before the run, we collected our race kits, went for a relaxing swim and met up with Shahrina in Kampong Bahru for a nice carbo loading the night before the run: Nasi Lemak!!!

After almost 2 months of training, event day came! I am very proud to say that all of us finished the 10km run, (and the 3km run for Fitri)clocking impressively credible times for beginner runners. All under 2 hours!!! Harry clocked in at 1:07:25, very good time for a first timer; Chan How – he was injured during the run – still managed a time of 1:22:35; Florence clocked in at 1:29:18 – she bested her last 10k run time, Hamida at 1:40:03 – she had problems with her breathing during our training but was never discouraged to quit (!), Nurul at 1:45:01 despite rarely training with us but still very hard core, our beloved Fitri who never realized he could actually make it BTD (before the dot), and, finally, yours truly at 1:01:21 – my best run ever because I had never clocked that fast in my 10km runs back home, really a lucky day for me for my first MY run!!! The best part is, we all received medals and certificates which we could take home to show our beloved supporters, our ICTI, JE, and ELS family! Thank you so much for the cheers and encouragement. We hope next time we get to see you in the running tracks with us! Kudos and Merry Christmas to all!

Some photos taken during the event: