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Those numbers in this post title represented the distance I’ve signed up for – 42.195km – the first full marathon I’m going to attempt to do in my life.

Completing a full marathon is one of those “must-do” things in my life and the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 on 6 December shall be my baptism of fire.

Since it is going to be my first marathon attempt, the primary objective is of course to finish the full distance. Having said that, I’ll also challenge myself a time target of 5 hours.

The day Singapore ran, with the rest of the world, in the Nike+ Human Race 10K.  A sea of “red tide”, nearly 10,000 strong assembled bright and early at the starting point which was at the Formula 1 starting grid.

There was an air of festive mood, even though the scorching sun was beating down on us.  Before long, we were flagged off but there was a red wall of human bodies in front of me. It took me 5 mins to cross the start-point and was held up in many bottlenecks along the 10K route.

I finished the run in 59mins gun-time.

I recently took a short vacation to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia and home of the imposing Petronas Towers, a design classic and until recently the world’s tallest building. In my previous trips to various parts of Malaysia, I’ve bypassed Kuala Lumpur but had never been to this capital city before. This time I decided to go Kuala Lumpur to do the touristy thing on a free-and-easy self-planned trip.

To and fro the Kuala Lumpur International airport or Low Cost Carrier Terminal to the city center, the journey brought us passed the Sepang F1 circuit, home of motorsport in Malaysia.

About 45mins of railway and cab travelling brought me into the Bukit Bintang neighbourhood where the hotel I’m staying is located.

Bukit Bintang is a very touristy area with lots of hotels and mega malls, so naturally the stuffs there are quite pricey.

Amidst this buzzing metropolis where towering skyscrapers and ultra-modern shopping malls and hotels resided along with historical buildings and street hawker stalls, a peculiar observation that left a deep first impression was that despite having a well connected network of monorail and light rail that ply most of the city, the roads of KL city appears to be jam-packed every hour of the day.

Coming up in the next post will be my visit to Chinatown and Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC). Stay tune!

Disclaimer: This is not a call to extra terrestrial civilizations to migrate to Earth and join the Human Race.

This is the Nike+ run that I’ll take part in this October, as we enter the last quarter of the year and the countdown to the marathon begin in earnest. This will be the day the world runs.

The start/end points of this year’s race will be at the F1 pit building and participants will run off the F1 pit straight.

Even as the dust of ‘Crashgate’ scandal cast a shadow over the sport, the high-octane roar of the Formula 1 engines in Friday’s first practice session on the Marina Bay street circuit signalled the start of the 2009 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix.

By a stroke of luck, I won a pair of complimentary tickets in an online lucky draw to enjoy Friday’s practice session. While I’ve been catching every Grand Prix race via live TV telecast, this would be my first ever outing inside an F1 race circuit. This is all so exciting for me!

The Bay Grandstand offers spectators the full view of downtown Marina (where the Integrated Resort is being constructed) and the Central Business District skyline, the Benjamin Shears Bridge and the Singapore Flyer complete the spectacular skyline.

Deja Vu

Renault’s rookie driver Romain Grosjean lost control at Turn 17 just 40 mins into the first practice session. His car spun and crashed at the same spot where Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately rammed his car into the wall during last year’s race. Talk about deja vu.

Battle By The bay

Last year’s Battle By The Bay was fought out between Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Filipe Massa of Ferrai, but thanks to the ‘Crashgate’ scandal, which will forever tarnished the dazzling spectacle of the historic night race, Renault’s Fernado Alonso won the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix title.  As a result, Massa did not score any point on that night, and Hamilton went on to eventually clinch the World Championship title.

This year’s Championship battle will be keenly contested between Brawn GP team-mates, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, both of whom were not even sure if they will be driving a couple of weeks before the start of the season. Chasing the Brawn GP dual will be dark horse Sebestian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, who is still with a shout of the world title.

Standing in the way of this trio will be the Singapore title holder, Fernado Alonso, who will be eager to restore his reputation with a performance that he hope will wipe the slate clean once and for all. Lewis Hamilton, although mathematically out of the race for the World title, will have the responsibility to help redeem the image of the sport as the reigning World Champion.