Monday 7 March 2011

Team Taylor joins the Singapore Shufflers...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City. So first off, apologies for no blog last night. However, as Team Taylor was EXHAUSTED from the day's activities, we came home after dinner and promptly PASSED OUT. And since the exertions dovetail (yes, I just said dovetail) nicely into this evening's blog, I think you'll find the story line continues nicely (Dinger - that was for you).

Now most of you probably won't recognize the gal with the great smile to the right of Jenny. However, if you've ever a) worked at a law firm in Sydney, or b) worked at Enron and are now trekking through the wilds of Patagonia, she might ring a bell. :-) Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the newest character in The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Assignee 47 - Fiona Phillips!

So we met Fiona through our friend Sergeant Sarah Brown, whom we met through Lady Catherine. As fate would have it, Lady Catherine knew Fiona from Sydney, as they all worked there. And so, a few email introductions later, we met up at 3 PM yesterday for an "easy walk" through McRitchie Park Reservoir.

The easy walk, for the record, was an 11KM SPRINT through mud, rocks, and monkeys (Paula, you would have LOVED it), complete with a monsoon and enough mud to build another 3 Gorges Dam. At the end of it we looked as though we'd just completed a "muddy buddy" race, but it was GREAT fun. And somehow, in my exhausted state, Muffin Puffin convinced me to attend tonight's activity, but more on that later.

After the 7 mile hike, we grabbed a brewski (including a sampler - FINALLY!) FROM Brewerkz before wandering over to Jumbo Seafood for a FEAST FOR KINGS. Seriously, it was SO GOOD, complete with the XO Scallops and...wait for it...wait for it...the pear stuffed scallops, baby!!!! WOO-HOO!!!! Terrier - it should be noted that Muffin had your same reaction. Translation - more for Sammy...life is guuuuuuuuuuud.

On to tonight. After work, Team Taylor caught a cab and rolled over to the local University track, where we did something that Four Leaf and Perfect Pumpkin haven't done in a decade and a half - SPEEDWORK AT A TRACK! That's right, folks, tonight Team Taylor officially joined "the Singapore Shufflers," a running group that meets every Monday. Tonight's practice involved TWELVE, COUNT THEM TWELVE 200's, with some 400's mixed in, FOLLOWED BY SOME 100M RELAYS!!!! I held up reasonably well, but I flat BONKED on the last 200. Seriously - I was THAT GUY, sucking all the air of the island into my lungs. Luckily it was a "cool" night (about 78), and so it made things bearable.

Fiona is one of the 2 coaches, and she was great to push us along. And whilst I am bloody EXHAUSTED, it was great, and I really do think it will pay dividends as I continue training for Sundown. Dinger - I'm chasin' you, baby - don't run from this. Literally.

After practice we decided to make the "short walk" home, which turned out to be 75 minutes at a good clip. However, we thought, "Oh, that's FINE, we'll eat on the way." Well, after we found all restaurants to be closed, we fell back on the thought of "at least there's a grocery store." But when THAT was closed, Muffin Puffin won the homemaker of the year award by whipping up some cheese and cucumber sandwiches on cracker - actually VERY tasty.

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam the Sprinter and Jenny the Speed Demon

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