I don’t do any sport regularly, maybe save swimming, which I do sporadically every one or two months.
But since my (new) company is one of the main sponsors for Jakarta Kizuna Ekiden relay running competition, as a new employee I dutifully (or half obligatorily wahahahaha) registered my self as a participant.
This Sunday was our company’s first official training together day, so I spent Saturday night browsing previous years Kizuna Ekiden videos.
And I was shocked to find that the participants seemed to take it very seriously!
It wasn’t comfortable jogging like I imagined, they seemed to make a mad rush right from the beginning.
How could I think I would be okay fast walking the course when everybody else was so pumped??
So then I know I got to practice =)
My company practice was really just a light practice where we ran in group for two laps. Each lap is about 1 km, or about a third of the real Kizuna Ekiden course. First lap was warming up, and in the second lap we measured our time.
I ran in a group of mostly Japanese, and damn they are fast -.-“
But I’m quite proud of my self because I managed to run nonstop from the start to the end.
The Japanese in my group made a strong start and quickly created a distance, but to my delight they kind of slow down after a while, during which I maintained my pace, so the gap wasn’t so wide anymore.
Wahahaha I didn’t know I could be competitive in running?? Shouldn’t I wish they were even faster so our company can record better time?
I was thinking I might even catch up if I make a sprint in last 300 meters or so, but as a complete novice I don’t know how much I can trust my legs. Moreover, the real course is longer, so I must learn to conserve my strength instead of burn it all up.
I only dashed faster when I already really close to the finish, and I wasn’t as out of breath as the most.
Now I’m actually really motivated to get better??
Kizuna Ekiden is not until mid-May, and if I practice every week I might get under 20 minutes for full course (which is really slow, by the way XP ).
My coworker said he was out of practice and that running outdoor is very different to running at the gym. He said he can easily run for 30 minutes on the treadmill while listening to music, but was struggling in our 1 km practice run. He still ran way faster than me, by the way.
I said he should listen to music while running outdoor as well, then.
I of course got my earphones on.
He looked pleasantly surprised when I told him I listened to AKB48 “First Rabbit”. I think it’s such a motivating song which suitable for comfortable pace running.
After the practice, we headed to the nearby fX Mall’s QQ Kopi Tiam Restaurant for a brunch.
We opted for 2nd floor outdoor terrace, which got plenty of room for all 30 of us, but unfortunately the service sucked so bad .
They spent forever delivering our orders, a couple of orders wasn’t even served until the meal was almost over. I’ve been to QQ before in a small group and there was no problem even when the restaurant was full, and how is serving for one large group that different to serving for several smaller groups??
Afterwards I just wandered aimlessly around the Mall.
The mall got some kind of singing competition event that day, but there was no special decoration.
Maybe, themed decoration is just not fX concept, unlike Plaza Indonesia which is just next to my current office. They are currently having a lavish decoration for “Beauty and the Beast”, and of course sisters and I, teenagers minded that we are, just HAD to take picture.
Have you watched the movie?
I think overall Disney did a good job made a live action remake out of the animation. However, unlike Cinderella, the movie couldn’t make me quite believe that Belle REALLY fell in love to the Beast.
Lily James and Richard Madden had an amazing chemistry in Cinderella, and moreover, it was easy to believe that a girl would fall in love with a handsome Prince.
But to believe that a lovely maid fell for an ugly Beast who imprisoned her, however kindhearted the Beast actually was? I think it should take different protrayal to the original animation, but Disney just followed the original scenes and storyline plainly.
I do like how they adapted Lumiere and Cogsworth to the live action version, and Emma’s singing voice is beautiful, though!
peachflowerblooming 