i made a new friend recently and while talking this qn popped up and it has been nudging me since then for a ans

what do you not like abt trg? i gave no ans and tried to think abt e opp, what do i LIKE abt trg? things didnt get further than that...

one two days ago, i was having dinner with a fellow rjcross teammate. he was sharing abt his team w me in his sec sch days.i knew abt e existance of that team during my sec days too,noticing them during trg races etc. what he said abt his team did coincide w what i thought abt them. a bunch of 'not as disciplined as rjkids', happy, carefree runners.and they perform. coach said that there're 3 aspects to trg : e trg workload itself, rest, and your food intake. okay,e latter2 for that team is out.so now it boils down to the trg itself. rjcross mate said that for this particular monday (crazy) trg, they'd push each interval like crazy; not caring abt the next interval and all that. wow, that's really commendable. and w/o me asking, he told me the driving force for that team. it was their teammates that drove them to whack during trgs like anything.prob even e reason that they actually make the effort to go for trg.

then i thought abt myself.what drives me to train? hmm.my coach? what an ans...but then i've nth else to ans that qn.

however w mgx, e coach was also a large part of why i went trg (everyones was scared of him.except maybe glory jen beth etc). but rmbing my days in s1, i only went for tues&thurs not sat trgs. meaning; i went for afternoon trgs.nvr go morning trgs.cos i didnt want to wake up early. then agn,somehow,i rmb going for morning hol trgs...at hwa chong,nie etc. and more often than not, jing and i wld be stretching alone.cos we 2 were always late.(i think lah.i cant rmb much abt my past) zhongeryanzhi, it was e team too that gave me meaningfor going trg. whoa those were e days man!when crosscountry really counted. we were such a close knit team.and i love those days like anything. we were a bunch of heck care run like mad,happy spirited kiddos.

-warmups a cool part of trg becos we all ran, more like jogged like ahmas,tgt.we did no funny drills.the juniors will sprint like mad all e way in front thinking that warmup was e trg or smth. and stretching is another affair all tgt.we take yrs to stretch. then we still got striding which was a fun part of trg. after that,we'd take our seats at the bleaches while coach stood down there &address us indiv in front of e team,telling us our workout and all. then we head to the starting line. oh wait, we'll PRAY BEFORE THAT!!another long affair :) ah then e workout. pple cheering for each other, mr ng shouting encouragements,sipping water like anything... oh yes running to e toilet 1/2way to get a longer break =p after e workout do we then camp in the toilet, lie on the seats,walk ard and pant. a good trg done-

it's damn sad that we wld nvr have such a team ever again.nvr having such an experience agn. it's truly an experience you'd nvr get anywhere else. a love-hate relationship; love e pple, hate e trg. love e running, hate e...coach?hahaha kinda.but we all miss him like mad now; at least i do. it will be an impossible thing to get each and every runner back for a reunion kinda

i'm digressing. my pt in blogging tdy is to straighten my thoughts! to come up w at least 5 reasons why i dont like trg;(i'm employing jan's help here:P)

1)going round and round and round and round*20min for warm up
2)while doing striding, i mentally note that after 3 of them, i'm walking w my friends back to get their bottles then it's e start of THE trg ( e anticipation feeling. shudders)
3)trg workout: running like dontknowwhat to try to keep to time.like rush rush rush.yet you've to restrain from running too fast or your whole trg's screwed up (like on mon)
4)e rest in between each set. (def. the rest is needed by like you lose your momentum and have to gain it back agn..whoa tough man)
5)e pissed off disappointing but still have to cont feeling when you see that you're off target

to make things more positive, plus when i try to think logically but cant seem to find gd reasons why i dont like trg, here are 10 reasons why i like trg!(or i'll makeyself like)

1) hearing norman say 'okok let's go do warmup' in his whiny voice is very funny
2) i love e warm up pace. it's slow =D for me at least. e rest go darn fast
3) stretching's a time for you to slack and talk with your friends
4) e anticipation (e gd feeling one) when coach goes ard telling us our workout
5) stridings are fun. opening your strides and going as big as you can.flying ; wihtout caring that you've 2 stridings left. somehow we recover almost instantly from that. maybe cos it's less than 50m =p
6) depending solely on God and surrendering my life to him while walking w friends to get their bottles
7) running with your friends/teammates, cheering them on when you yourself are v tired.
8) counting down to your last interval
9) pushing like anything when it's not your last interval,when you didnt hit your previous timing. just trying to make things work. 'doing e hard work at trg' as coach wld put it
10) a good trg done

God on the starting line
" Giving up reveals a submissive, immature reaction to pain. What teenager, with today's comfrts, knows such stark physical suffering? e only vocab he has in response is surrender. they must learn a new pattern that one familiarises with and even welcome as a path towards righteousness. afterall, noble suffering is a christian doctrine."