Running Away in Macintoshes

The weekend beckons. My students announced it with their dress-down gear today, signaling to me early this morning that it was TGIF. Aware of this acronym, I converted it into the anagram ‘GIFT’. Some well-intentioned posters remind us, incessantly, on Facebook about the innocuous cliché that the ‘present’ moment is a ‘gift’. After the landslide of tributes in the last 24 hours for Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs I am mindful of ‘being in the moment’ and appreciating my presence, as well that of others.

I am writing this post on my 2-year-old iMac – a clever investment from a computer fair. I am a heavy user since I have written dozens of training manual, two novels, countless business proposals, thousands of e-mails, and 2.5 years worth of blogging on it. I have fond memories of my adventures - loaded as photographs and videos - in this workstation, and I continue to receive them when friends enthusiastically ‘tag’ me; this was a recent one of me sprinting to the finish-line (and taken by volunteers of the Yellow Ribbon Project Run, held a fortnight ago).

The weather has been quirky, opting to rain heavily in the evening. It has been five days since I rode my bike, and almost a week since I ran. My mild, but annoying, condition of plantar fasciitis has just about cleared. Having collected my race-pack with running partner for The North Face (TNF) 100 Duo, I am strongly reminded of my date-with-fate the following Saturday morning at 7.00am. I will be running 50K worth of rugged terrain, over relatively unfamiliar and mostly uncomfortable terrain. I am not versatile on trail, and the closest I have been to a dusty or muddy trail was my 5K Time Trial with MR25 in August. I have not used my Camel-Pak water-pouch for almost a year, and I am concerned about potential abrasions. My right rotator cuff is playing up, and I hope that it would be stable enough for the pounding I will subject my body and feet to. I have my work cut out for me.

My strategy for the 50K trail run is simple, however not easy. I intend to do daily runs from now till Thursday, over varying terrain for about 10-12K per session. I will be using my Camel-Pak, studying which are the potential pressure-points and abrasion-prone areas on my body. I am likely to race in my tri-gear as they are my workhorse clothes when I race, and I like to treat each race as a race-day simulation. I hope to hold 8-9K per hour on the hills and trails, and about 10K on the flats. Conservative will be my approach, and conversational would be my pace. I will fuel up at 30-minute intervals, with a variety of sweeteners (mainly maltodextrin-based gels and bars). More importantly, as a team-partner I will stick with Hui Koon for as long as I can. My motivation would be a Subway foot-long sandwich with the ‘works’.

I will be swimming this Sunday at a charity, and hope to complete a steady 50 laps (2.5K). Time to rest up and do a 21K tomorrow morning, rain or shine. Have a very good weekend, all!

Remembrances & Ruminations

Emperor: ‘The Samurai is not a man now. He is an idea. Tell me how he died.’

Algren: ‘I will tell you how he lived.’

- THE LAST SAMURAI

Today was a day of sadness: Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios’ CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs passed away (1955-2011). The digital media mogul behind the infinite success of the iPod, iPad, iMac and iPhone and the book ‘The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs’ inspired netizens to watch his YouTube broadcast of his speech to graduates at Stanford University’s 114th Commencement. His first bout of cancer and his relative mortality, inspired him to draw from some of his most pivotal points in his life:

‘Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.’

The social media was abuzz with announcements, and then tributes poured in for the iconic entrepreneur and founder of Apple. People have been affected and influenced by Jobs; he left behind him a legacy that is larger than his life.

This week, I attended my business partner’s mother’s funeral. After we paid our last respects to her, we adjourned to the sitting area for conversation. We caught up with old friends and acquaintances, and met new ones. When you embrace death as a natural part of life, it becomes a significant stage of our lives, too. Birth, life, and death – the cycle spins for all within the Universe.

Why is it some concerned mourners ask the morbid question: ‘How did they die?’ What is this fascination for dying? I was never comfortable with the process of dying, however I am familiar and aligned with the grieving process associated with loss of a loved one: denial, anger, acceptance and commitment.

I will be writing a tribute for a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) Singapore Ring 115 - Pei Seh Leong. I solicited thoughts from his son, Jeremy and our members so as to paint a complete montage of a magician we lost – we call him a Broken Wand – for he will never again wave his magic wand (an allegorical symbol of a magical entertainer). It is my pleasure to help craft his obituary for I am honoured to speak well of him with others.

Remember our dead! Celebrate our living.

Credit: Winston Koh, for being acute curator of Steve Jobs’ speech.

Photo-credit of Mr Pei Seh Leong: Jeremy Pei.