Something to tick off...

I am participating in Borneo International Marathon 2013.
As a runner!
Duh.

I have thought of it since last year but was not courageous enough to sign up cos I was never a long distance runner. I do not know how far I could cope with running more than a 400m distance (that's the furthest I ran for a competition). Yet, knowing that I would never know my limit and capability if I don't give myself a shot intimidates me. I would not have joined this race if the run was not postponed to three months later though. So when it was postponed and my friend, Maslight gave a shout out about it... heck, it's now!

I had roughly two months to train but Miss Sloth in me always came in between. In the end, I only have two weeks. My last training was yesterday. I managed to clock a good time for a 10km distance. I am happy. At least, I know I can do this.

So yeah, this Sunday, August the 25th.... Chegu Carol is going to run a marathon. Never mind it is only a 10km marathon. I hope to be able to strike 'Run a (10km) marathon' off my list this year. 

God's willing.

Siapa-siapa yang join tu BIM2013, jumpa di sanaaaaaaa.....

Til next post!
Hugs.

Yoga Progress: Standing Bow

Standing Bow pose has been one of my favourite pose from the first day I started practicing yoga. I just feel deeply mesmerized by the position of the body, the curve of the back, the elongated one leg up and the balance the whole body gets by simply stretching one end of the hand and the other leg. It just look so elegant. No wonder, it is also called a Dancer's Pose.

When I first started, I didn't know how to place my legs and abs properly.

On Day two, after throughly studying the pose, I managed to properly lift up my leg and align my torso.

Coming to Week Two and after pretty much digging details of the pose, I was able to get into some proper form of it. And I must admit, I kind of love the progress.

On the following week, I was aiming to get the back leg straighter and torso more aligned with the floor by arching the spine more. I didn't get much progress aside maintaining the posture I achieved from the week before.

Unfortunately, I was too ambitious the following week when doing Intense Side Stretch pose. I injured my left back thigh causing intense pain whenever I tried to stand straight on it.  It's been a week and the muscle is showing sign of recovery but VERY slow. I couldn't wait and so I trained my other leg to be the standing leg. This is as much I could do with my left side. Back too stiff to arch. *sigh*

Praying that my injury will get better as soon as possible. However, I feel good about the overall progress. I have been very religious with my practice and started to do yoga on daily basis from the 4th week.

How do I stay put?

Let's just say, Instagram and the people in it makes me motivated. Ha!

Till next post!
*hugs*

Down memory land recipe

Among other things that I remember most about my late father, is definitely his significant dish called Ikan Asam Jawa (Tamarind Fish).

When I was in lower secondary school, we were in the afternoon session. In the morning, I would go to mom's vegetable stall to help her and by mid morning (around 10.30am), dad would picked me up from the stall to bring me home to get ready for school. Usually, it would be dad's duty to ensure I was fed before going to school. That means, he would cook lunch.

So yes, Ikan Asam Jawa was one of the simple home cook meals dad would cooked for us during lunch. He never really taught me how it was cooked though. But it was a good thing I kept my observation tight that time. Besides, it is a very simple dish to prepare and so kind of easy to come up with the recipe. The only different is, the dish simply doesn't taste the same to that my father cooked. Close, but definitely not the same.

These are the ingredients needed for this simple recipe.
1. Fish
2. Tamarind juice
3. Onions, garlic and shallots
4. Oil
5. Water
7. Corn flour/starch (optional)
8. Salt and sugar to season

The thing about my cooking is that, I don't really have the exact measurement for each ingredient. It is more like 'agak-agak', the term widely use by our older generation when cooking.

So yeah, the tamarind is more like agak-agak according to the quantity of fish I was preparing. The only thing I can tell you is that, this dish serves for 5 pax.







 So, agak-agak lah ya...

Method:

1. Clean fish and cut into two (optional).
2. Soak tamarind in warm water to get the juice.
3. Cut onions into wedges.
4. Pound garlic and shallots.
5. Deep fry the fish till golden brown. Set aside (to toss on the excess oil).
6. On a clean pan, pour 2tbsp of oil.
7. Saute onions, garlic and shallots til light brown
8. Pour in the tamarind juice. Add 1 cup of water (or agak-agak) and bring to simmer.
9. Add salt and sugar to taste.
10. Pour corn flour diluted in water to thicken the sauce. (optional)

And voila!

Have you tried this before? Any other variations?

Til next post!
*hugs*

After a week...

Update on my Yoga progress.

My favourite pose, Standing Bow Pose or the Dancer's Pose. I think I am progressing well with this pose.

 

And of course, some other poses I've been practicing. I even bought myself DVDs for Yoga beginner. I reckon that I need more insights to Yoga than just practicing the pose via images found on the Internet. I must say, I look forward to dig deeper. To understand the reason why I do all the poses and the benefits yielded from doing yoga daily.

 

Namaste.

 

 

Slowly piecing in...

If you have been following my previous blog at carolchs dot com (which is now suspended), you could have read several posts regarding my dream house. In that particular post, I mentioned that, I could only picture the back yard to my dream house. Other than that, the layout of my dream house was still vague.

As I was driving back to my hometown last weekend and thinking about having my own house, flashes of images; starting from the backyard, slowly going into the patio, to the dining hall and by the time I realized it, I have somehow 'built' up my dream house. Well, not the entire structure but yeah, I am able to see how the layout of my future house will look like.

I wonder where did these pieces came in?

It feels like whenever I think of that layout  (and I am thinking of it now), I am actually inside my house wandering every corner of it. You get what I mean? The only thing that ain't finish is how it will look like from the main door towards the outside of the front porch.

It delights me knowing that I could possibly  have a design of the house that I am going to have one day. It is just a matter of when and how my budget stretch is going to help materialize this dream.

Since I can say the layout/design of my future house is roughly 80% in my head, I hope to put a timeline as to when I can start putting aside moolah for Dream House Budget.

God's willing.

Here's the non-artist impression of my dining hall. The first corner of the house that keep popping in my head once I decided to have a spacious back lawn similar to that of the back lawn in Marley & Me the movie.

Achievement unlocked

Here's more story about my Yoga journey...well, im only on day 5. It is still a journey kan considering I am still at it. Unlike last time. ^__^

So I've said in my Instagram that this is one of my favourite pose in the 26 poses of the Bikram Yoga when I first started.
 


On day 2, I managed to pull my leg up a bit.


On day 3, I did not do anything so as to get the muscle rest.

On day 4, I was only trying to strike a pose when I did this pose. And look how much I think I have progressed. I mean, I surprised myself that I was able to pull up that much of my leg. And I didn't really feel the strain that I had on day one and two. Perhaps, the rest I had on day 3 kind of helped ease the sore muscles.
 

So, have I unlocked any achievement? Well, not exactly. But I think I am on my way to unlock something beyond my imagination.  I am ecstatic to see how far can I go with this pose comes Day 30.

Fingers crossed!

A Yogi?

I tried Yoga back when I was still teaching in Keningau. It was part of wanting to try what form of exercise appealed me for my evening workout. However, I wasn't keen. In fact, I only went to the class less than 5 times. The stretching and what not bored me. Heck, it made me sleepy. Or perhaps, I wasn't doing it right. Hence, the lack of enthusiasm.

Surprise, surprise!

Am back on it. Well, after some blogger friends (Read: Wyne_Mouren and StellaClaire) show fascinating trending of Yoga photos and they are filling up my Instagram timeline everyday. I was skeptical at first. But look who's joining in the bandwagon? Ha!

Great thing is, even hubby gives encouragement albeit subtle by telling me that there are apps on iPad regarding yoga for beginners.

Here's my first pose of the Dandayamana-Dhanurasana or the Standing Bow Pose, the 6th pose of the 26 basic Bikram Yoga Pose.
 A long way to go before I get the correct pose and posture.  

After I did a half an hour of some of the poses, what I noticed is that I get some slight headache post-exercise. I gathered it was due to the blood circulation or whatever that has gone through while I did the yoga process. But then again, it could be due to the incorrect postures and breathing throughout my exercise.

Today, I shall improve on the breathing first and has been doing bit of revision on the 26 Bikram Yoga.

Update again soon.

******
I read HERE that it is normal to feel dizzy when first starting yoga due to the body not being used of having too much oxygen in the system. A ha!