DaddyDear

At last I’ve received the official result for Sundown Marathon. I’m ranked 1738 out of 3599, that’s somewhere at the middle. Not too bad for newbie.

Have just “commissioned” the DIY Home Filer Server I’ve built from the parts I bought last Friday.

Hardware List (Total- S$465):

• Motherboard – Asus P5GC-MX/1333 (built-in LAN & Video chip)
• CPU – Intel E2180 Dual Core Processor (2 GHz)
• Memory – Corsair DDR2-667 1GB
• HDD – Maxtor Diamondmax 22 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
• Casing – Cooler Master Elite 340
• PSU – Cooler Master 460W Extreme Power Supply

Operating System: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition (Free)

Acknoledgement:

• Keyboard (Borrowed from Vincent)
• CRT monitor (Borrowed from Ronald)

We’re using this server to store and share our home videos, digital photos, mp3, and all other files. Still short of a UPS to protect against accidental power trip. Will get one soon.

Installing the Ubuntu Server Edition is quite daunting at first, as there’s no GUI. I was really struggling with the “primitive” text-based system. Luckily, the documentation is very helpful and I’m starting to like this simple but powerful OS.

Since the CPU power is more than over-kill for a file server, I’m also planning to install VMware Server (oso free) to host a Virtual Windows Client to run my other Windows-based application.

We started the walk from Bt Chandu car park. Here’s the first picture I took at “Reflections at Bukit Chandu”:

This was the place where 1400 soldiers of the Malay Regiment fought against 13,000 Japanese soldiers in 1942. The building in the background is a memorial to the last moments of these brave soldiers of World War II and a place to reflect on their courage, the cost of war and the price of peace.

The downhill trail towards Hort Park is also very scenic.

Hort Park is very impressive. With so many things to see within such a small premises, it’s definitely a perfect place for wedding photo-shoot in Singapore.

Guess who is this 世外高人, meditating in the center of a circular garden surrounded by bamboo? Hahaha …

There are so much to see. We’ve covered only a fraction of the whole trail. Will definitely re-visit this place again. More coverage at mummyDear.

I’ve finally achieved my goal that I’ve set last year, that is to run my first Marathon, and it is also the first Singapore Adidas Sundown Marathon. The run was challenging, as the terrain was very different from the runs that I’ve previously had. Also, it started to rain when I was at the 38 km mark, making it even more challenging.

I’ve not received the official timing yet, but my stopwatch timed 6 hrs and 20 mins. Didn’t meet my target, as I planned to achieve under 6 hrs.

Here’s a picture of my BIB and my medal:

And here’re the zoom-in of the medal’s front & back:

Here’s some of my personal views on this event:

• First aid station is too far away, i.e. 3.8km. Would be ideal if it was at around 2.5 or 3km.
• Can’t find the distance marker for the beginning stretch. First one I saw was the 8km mark.
• Not enough distance marker. Should have one at every kilometer.
• Not enough bananas (got only one at 24.9 aid station & the other one at the finishing line). Would be ideal if they give out some bananas during the last 8-10km stretch. Felt extremely depleted during that stretch when I’ve used up my energy gel.

Other than these, I think the event was pretty well organized, especially taken into consideration that it was the first night Marathon in Singapore.