I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I'm just returning from a two-week business trip to Asia and enjoyed some great barefoot running over there. Actually, I'm now sitting here in Minneapolis on a flight delay...as per usual, the very last flight of the trip has the issue. I'm ready to fly back to Indy and everyone is all here...except the pilot! So, it's a good time to sit here and write this blog.
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| Rachel's Graduation Night - Family Selfie |
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| Rachel's Grad Party |
We started of the month of June by celebrating our oldest daughter Rachel's graduation from Westfield High School. We had many different celebrations and parties to go to and we are very proud of Rachel and the fine young lady she has grown up to be. She will be attending Manchester University in the Fall to study Elementary Education.
I got in some huge weekly totals the first two weeks of the month. This was intentional since I wasn't really sure how much I would be able to do once I got over to Asia. So for the first two weeks of the month I had my highest totals yet for the year with a 75 miler followed by a 90 miler. Nothing like "front loading" the month to get a high monthly total. The next week was pretty light due to some rain and the fact that I flew out to Asia on that Thursday.
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| Nice surfaces in Asia! |
The trip to Asia was simply phenomenal and I was able to get in some really memorable runs. We started out flying into Singapore and staying overnight. We then flew up to Penang and rested for the weekend before starting our "tour" down the peninsula. We started off Monday in Kulim and then transferred, through Kuala Lumpur, down to Malacca where we spent the balance of week number one. On the weekend we then travelled back down to Singapore were we spent two days with the local teams and one day travelling by ferry boat over to Batam (part of Indonesia) before flying back to the states today. A really neat experience spanning 3 different countries, one of which I had never been to before (Indonesia).
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| Singapore Headlamp Run |
The first day arriving in Singapore, it was a short night but I still got up early and did a short 4 miler before heading to the airport. It was a little rainy but I was able to find the Riverwalk area which would become the staple for my long runs on the following week.
Once up in Penang I was able to get in a nice 4 mile beach run as our hotel was right on the beach in this beautiful resort community. The run was shortened somewhat by an incoming storm which was blowing in from the north...I didn't want to become a lightning fatality the day before we started working! Also, I had stepped on something at about mile two, something sharp, like a sea urchin which drew blood in the arch of my right foot. It was fine by the time I got back to the hotel and I was happy to have the short run completed as I watched what seemed like a hurricane threaten to blow the patio furniture through my sliding glass door!
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| Poolside in Penang Malaysia |
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| Top of Penang Hill in Malaysia |
Also while on Penang Isand I was able to go on a city tour. We toured through Fort Cornwallis and the Chinese Snake Temple. I also took the cable car to the top of Penang Hill and got some fantastic views of Georgetown and the entire island. I was able to relax by the pool and even got a one hour massage on the beach for 50 Ringet (about 12 bucks!)
From there we spent a long day at our Kulim wafer fab facility before flying down to KL and taxi-ing to Malacca. I got up early the next morning and discovered some decent running paths through the ancient Portuguese ruins in downtown Malacca. Each day I extended the runs further and further until I actually ran a 13.1 mile Half Marathon on Saturday for the last run in this beautiful historic city.
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| Malacca Teammates @ my company Infineon |
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| Good Breakfast Each AM |
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| Ever try Corn Juice? |
These Malacca runs weren't without incident however. Each morning run was done completely in the dark with my headlamp so I could run in the "cool" of the day and then have time to shower, eat breakfast and get ready for work. The cool of the day turned out to be a pretty consistent 79 degrees with high humidity. On the Tuesday run I encountered a Big Dog and turned around (somewhere around the Jonker Walk area) and got in my miles elsewhere. The dogs in Malaysia seem to run loose and are generally pretty small and tame, seemingly afraid of humans, but I wasn't taking any chance with this Big One. The next day on Wed, a prostitute actually propositioned me from her car and then proceeded to follow me for a half mile calling out "I Love You" and showing me quite graphically what she was wanting to do. Luckily, I knew of a pedestrian only area and ducked into it to get away from her...she helped to quicken my pace if nothing else as I ran away from her as I was NOT completely sure she was a "she!" Nuff said.
The last week we were back in Singapore and I got in a dozen or more miles each of the days we were there. I even finished it off with a 3-mile run to a souvenir stand on Wed. night before coming back to the hotel to pack the bag and head for the airport. All the runs, whether Malacca or Singapore had surfaces varying from rough asphalt to smooth tile and brickwork and everything in between. I sometimes felt like I didn't even need my headlamp since the paths were so well lit. In Singapore I was actually able to run the entire way without ever having to cross traffic or run in traffic as I was able to utilize two overhead pedestrian walkways to link to the River Walk.
After not knowing how many miles I would be able to get in over there I was pleasantly surprised that the two week total was a little over 88 miles. While this didn't keep the higher weekly totals from earlier in the month going, it did still give me a respectable 253 for the month which is my highest monthly total of the year.
Keep on Barefooting!
Barefoot Dan
June Monthly Total = 253 Miles
