My Lifelong Marathon - Angelena is 2!

Happy Birthday Angelena! As they say, time flies... I cannot believe that it has already been 2 years! Here's a little something that we put together. Enjoy!

Run for the Kids 2013 - 5km

On 24 March 2013, Angelena, Lena and I formed part of the 35,000 participants that took part in the annual Run for the Kids. $29 of our $47 race fees goes to The Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday appeal. 

Weather was perfect and the crowd was massive... Took us 1hr & 12mins to complete the 5km course. Here's a short clip of our race day... Enjoy!

My Lifelong Marathon - The walk

Angelena started standing up when she was about 10 months, we thought to ourselves "hmmm, think she will be walking before she turn one". We waited, and waited... And finally, she now walk the walk after turning one... Here's what she has been up to since she started walking...

It is a whole new ball game now, she is getting quicker each day... With a turn of the head, she is gone in a flash... We have to up our game to match hers!!! Fun times ahead...

My Lifelong Marathon - Progress over the past few months...

Have been slack on Angelena's update... She has turned 9 months this week... How time flies... Check out what mischief she has been up to...

Oh, no human, babies or animals were hurt during the filming of these videos...

By the way, following my finish at You Yangs last Sunday, I have been in recovery mode and have not done any running... I hope to finish and share my race report with you soon...

My lifelong marathon update, Apr-12

As the saying goes, videos speak louder than words... so here they are, some Angelena actions over the last few months...

Angelena at 3 months, practicing her kung fu kicks...

Angelena at 4 months, having her first bite of solid...

Never give up until you complete the flip!!!

Now, I do realise that she may not want to talk to me later in her life when she found out that I had "leaked" a video of her flipping naked on the internet... But I can't help it... To me, this clip is really inspiring... She try and did not give up until she completed her flip... What a trooper!!! I wonder where she learn to have such strength and determination... Hmmm...

Coming to 5 months, Angelena has now found her feet and she loves touching them... 

After putting in hours to perfect her flipping technique, she can now do it with ease...

Learning is a 2 way street... Angelena wants to learn from us, and in the process, we also get to learn from her... She is now about 6.5kg and growing... With 5 months of intensive "upper body training", I think my biceps and core muscles have grown stronger from all the lifting and settling "exercises"... 

So what's coming next? Commando crawl? Obstacle course? Can't wait!!!

Huh, February already ah... 發 ah!!!

恭禧發財!!! Happy Chinese New Year!!! Wishing everyone all the very best in the year of the dragon!!! 

Angelena: "Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!! I am wearing red!!!"

Cannot believe it, we are already in February... My lifelong marathon is already over 3 months old... And my oh my, she is growing and getting heavier... Not that I am complaining, I am happy that she is growing... In fact, she is helping Lena and me to be leaner (Lena becoming leaner... get it? hehehe...), toning up those arm muscles (biceps and triceps etc) with all the carrying her around we do... Think our abs also got stronger with all the "rocking her to sleep" exercises... Maybe I should write a training manual on "How to tone your body with your baby"... hmmm...

Now for the boring stuff... January has been, well, slack... My company was closed for the Xmas/New Year holiday period and I was only back to work on 9-Jan... So I should have done a lot of running during these 9 days right? errr... not really... Let's take a look...

Here is my supposed training plan for January... This is to prepare me for my ultra trail 50km race in June later this year... 

Training Plan for January 2012

The training requires me to clock 206km in January alone... Sounds crazy... yeh, hence why I said "supposed" training plan... So how are my actuals tracking against this plan? 

January progress... 

Total Jan-12 mileage, 67.3km... far from the supposed 206km... At this rate, I may not even lock 1,000km this year... So what happened? Priority has been given to my lifelong marathon, hence more core training than just the silly road pounding... We just have to make the best out of what we can or have...

Quick preview to my signed up races for this year... Note that I am not racing to be on the podium, just wanna be a low key finisher...

Victorian Trail Running Championship, consist of 4 races as follows:

19-Feb-12 Maroondah Dam (30km this will be my first proper trail race...) 

3-Jun-12 Macedon Ranges (50km hopefully I can make it to this race injury free...)

22-Jul-12 You Yangs Regional Park (30km closer to home as it is located west of Melbourne) 

12-Aug-12 The Tan (30km this will drive me nuts because it is doing laps around the Tan, each lap ~3.8km)

Will also be picking a marathon to do after the championship, maybe Sydney marathon? hmmm... 發ah!!!

Time flies... Already 8 weeks into my lifelong marathon...

It has been 8 weeks since Angelena came into our life... Here she is, from the very beginning...

Angelena's first breathe... and yes, she was loud...

She came into this world weighing 3.6kg. 8 weeks in, she is now 5.5kg, gaining 53% over 8 weeks...

Love at first sight...

now you see 1 eye open...

now you see both eyes open...

The many faces of Angelena... Week 1

Week 2...

Week 3...

Week 4...

Angel & Angelena getting to know each other...

Week 5...

Week 6...

Week 7...

Week 8...

I love my daddy...

That's all for now everyone... like my dress?



The learning curve...

We discharged from the hospital last Friday 28-Oct... Felt happy because we finally get to welcome Angelena to our home... Felt very daunting because all the help and support we have from the nurses and doctors from Frances Perry House is now history... We are on our own (with help from my MIL and FIL)...

All set to go home...

Everyday we learn something different... just like running, we learn to improve our techniques to increase our efficiency and also learn to do things correctly (at least according to us)... We learned that sleep is a luxury item and we should catch as much sleep as possible as the baby will wake you up at a time when you most want to close your eyes... We learn how to persevere and think positive... we learn how to be more efficient in time management... We learn to be patient with each other and think about the bigger picture...

And I am sure many of you will say:"Mate, this is just the beginning..." Oh well, all I can say is:"Bring it on!!!"...

Enjoy the pics of Angelena...

Angelena's first bath...

Shiok man...

Ok, this car seat passed...

P.S. I did sneaked in an evening run (4.8km) with Angel yesterday... Felt real good as I have not run for over a week... But I did paid for it as it did affect my "night shift" performance...

My lifelong marathon... Angelena Cheong

Date: 23-October-2011
Angelena Cheong decided to be a Scorpio and came into this world on
Sunday 23-Oct-2011 3pm, weighing in at 3.4kg. Angelena and Lena are
both doing well.

As for me, I am super happy!!! Overjoyed!!! Elated!!! Over the moon!!! And all those words and phrases that describe happiness!!!

Stay tune for more pics on my lifelong marathon...