Sitting Is The New Smoking

Sitting is getting a real bad rep. It’s steadily climbing up the second-tier vice ladder. First-tier is the really hardcore stuff like drugs and gambling; second-tier is smoking and drinking – less hardcore but does no favours for your life or waistline. That second-tier has recently welcomed a distant, twice-removed cousin: Sitting.

According to experts, too much sitting contributes to higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even mortality. In fact, scientists at the American Journal of Epidemiology conducted a study earlier this year where they followed 123,000 adults over a 14-year period. They found that those who sat more than six hours a day were at least 18 percent more likely to die than those who sat less than three hours a day. Oh my god. If six hours is the limit, then I am officially a Sittaholic.

I never intended for it to happen. It just did. A lot of it is peer pressure. After all, when everyone around you is sitting all the time, you tend to follow suit. Also there are just so many chairs everywhere – at home, in the office, in restaurants, in cars … Some of them are pretty comfortable too. We also see pictures of attractive people sitting in newspapers, magazines and books. People on TV sit a lot too, especially those on talk shows. Due to these circumstances, I’ve unwittingly been seduced into becoming a Sittaholic. I need help. I need to rid myself of this terrible affliction I never knew I had until I read this article five and a half days ago.

Fortunately, as is the case with every newly proclaimed Problem, there is a Solution. Experts have found a cure to Sitting. It is called … Standing. I’m familiar with the concept as I have, on occasion, indulged in a fair bit of standing myself. I usually do this when I’m not … sitting. These experts claim that standing helps you concentrate better, prevents drowsiness and makes you feel like a “general even if you just push paper”.

Unfortunately, not all experts believe that Standing is all that it’s cracked up to be. Standing all day long leads to unsightly varicose veins, long-term back injuries and is taxing on the heart. Ah, so much for standing.

Our bodies are not built for Sitting or Standing for long periods of time. Our bodies, experts tell us, are built to move. You know, so we can chase after hapless rabbits, outrun ferocious man-eating tigers and prance around the jungle plucking berries for supper. Because we were made to move, we are doing our bodies a grievous disservice by Sitting all the time.

My take on the whole matter? I’m a big proponent of balance. We need to have a carefully calculated, highly customised schedule that combines sitting, standing, walking and jogging at cleverly timed intervals throughout the day so that we can keep moving while going about our daily routines. This highly personal schedule will be calculated based on a thorough assessment of your height, weight, percentage and distribution of body fat, your diet, lifestyle, occupation, eyesight, the colour of your teeth and how many times you watched Oprah in the last two months.

Follow this highly customised schedule religiously for 28 days (that’s how long it takes for an action to become a habit), and you will see visible physical results in 90 days (that’s how long it takes for your body to respond to lifestyle changes) and you will then achieve Optimal Health.

Optimal Health, that is, until the experts decide on what the next big Problem is. I hate to treat something as grave as Sitting so flippantly, but I have yet to win the fight against Knee Obesity – a condition I’ve been busy battling since February this year – and I can’t afford to have two big Problems at the same time. There are only 24 hours in a day, you know.

Coming Clean

For some reason, people (meaning the five people who read my blog – bless you) have the impression that I’m some workout warrior who bolts out of bed at the crack of dawn, all iron-willed and disciplined. That’s not an accurate picture. I am really a lazy arse who’d much rather slug around the house all day surfing porn on my laptop. No la, I’m kidding. (About the porn, of course, what kind of perv do you think I am?)

Porn aside, I confess that dragging my butt out of bed in the morning to go run is a struggle every time. They say doing something consistently for 30 days will make it a habit for life. They freaking lied. It sucks every single time. Just like it sucked a few weeks ago.

I crawl out of bed at 6am one morning after several fruitless minutes of tug-of-warring with my Evil Nemesis. She’s the one who says things like, “The bed is so nice and warm and soft … do you really want to get up and get all sweaty … wouldn’t you rather go back to sleep …” I persevere and win the battle, but just barely.

My Evil Nemesis taunts me as I mindlessly chomp on two bars of milk-soaked Weet-Bix. “Come on … you can still sms your friend to cancel … skip one day won’t die lah … besides, you think she don’t wanna go back to sleep meh? … you’ll be doing her a favour!”

And that’s when it happens: it starts to drizzle. It’s 6.20am. I feel a guilty little jolt of – dare I say it – joy. Yippy, I silently think. Yippy yippy yippy, sshhhh. Now I can slink back to bed and not be harangued by another nemesis of mine: the Guilt Gorilla.

Maybe it’ll stop raining soon, I tell myself in an attempt to smooth over the burgeoning waves of guilt. “You say this but you’re not fooling anyone, you crafty coyote. You secretly want it to rain harder!!” thunders Guilt Gorilla.  I ignore him. I wait until 6.45am. It’s still pouring.

I text my friend. Below is our actual sms exchange, verbatim:

WY (6.46am) I leave house at 715 la raining
SL (6.47am) ok. Its dark huh

I go back to bed for a few minutes. Sleep doesn’t come. I text her again.

WY (7.13am) raining la. Shit. Is it raining at your side?
SL (7.15am) its wet la but stopped drizzling already
SL (7.16am) eh now raining la
WY (7.17am) Yalor, I’m in garden. Raining! Ok back to bed!!
SL (7.20am) Ok haiyor just now it din rain b4 we got up rite
WY (7.22am) raining since I got up leh … cancel la. Dowan run in drizzle!
SL (7.24am) oh ya gah. It was dark la, can’t really see u can’t do evening?
WY (7.25am) actually its stopping. Ok ok. Lets go now. Meet you thr!
SL (7.27am) still raining here la. I undress d haha
WY (7.29am) I’m gonna leave house. Ok la if u go, I’ll c u thr lor
SL (7.32am) I dowan to walk when its drizzling leh, my arthritis pain wor!

I put on my cap and head out anyway. The moment I drive out, the rain gets heavier. That joyful little jaunt that’s been dancing around in my belly turns into a frenzied chicken dance. I text my friend with all the “regret” I can muster.

WY (7.33am) I drove out n rain heavier, so turn back. I give up!
WY (7.34am) evening prob I can’t but see how. I’ll msg u abt 5pm
SL (7.35am) ok we try evening if u can

We don’t. Instead, we spend the whole morning and the rest of the day … slugging around the house surfing porn.

Screw Discipline. I’m Going Back To Bed

I feel like crap. I have run no more than three times since I got back from the Singapore Marathon in December and I will say it again: I feel like crap. I’m battling a combination of wretched guilt, some extra poundage (I don’t know how much cos I don’t own a scale) and a crippling feeling of malaise. Before I bumble any further, I should explain my use of the word ‘run’. By ‘run’, I mean a pathetic attempt at walking and jogging and whining all at once – a Herculean feat especially since I have literally crawled back to square one as far as my stamina is concerned. It’s awful. I don’t know where that 2009-ME has gone. The one with all the discipline, drive, enthusiasm, energy … it’s like she died last December and left this miserable 2010-ME in her place. I do not like this 2010-ME. It’s a defective model.

So I’m going to get my act together … right … after … Chinese New Year. No no no no-o-o-o-o. Right now, right now. To get started, I shall now inspire myself with some quotes about the one thing I need the most right now: discipline.

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” (Zig Ziglar)… My commitment and discipline have gone bust but I think I still have a smidgen of that character left. Now if only I can find it …

“Discipline is remembering what you want.” (David Campbell) … I seem to have forgotten in the face of other seemingly important, more ‘pressing’ things …

“Lack of discipline leads to frustration and self-loathing.” (Marie Chapian) … Self-loathing – yeah, plenty of that going around right now …

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” (Jim Rohn) … I have a horrible feeling that regret will indeed one day weigh tons – literally …

“No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.” (Seneca) … Well, I guess the desire to lie around in bed and have bacon bits for breakfast can be considered by some to be ‘evil’, can’t it? …

“If we do not discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.” (William Feather) … Well, either the world or nature itself …

Hmm, so am I sufficiently inspired? I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow when I’m trying to get out of bed early in the morning. Ask me then.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009

I love Singapore. This is a momentous occasion for me, sort of like a gay guy coming out of the closet and I will say it again: I lurve Singapore. Was there last weekend with some friends for the Singapore Marathon 2009 and I loved it! Oh yes, did I mention that I love Singapore? Well, I do. And this is why:

THE RACE PACK COLLECTION

On the day before the run, we drove to the Expo Convention and Exhibition Centre to collect our race packs. There were tons of cars but it was a gloriously huge parking lot, so no frustrating fruitless rounds were required.

No waiting or lining up either; we walked right up to the row of counters. Young girls (school kids, they looked like) were manning the booth. They were professional, cheery, fast and even wished us a good run the next day. Being Malaysian and therefore, used to bad service, I was a little taken aback.

This is so different from the KL Marathon when we had a horrendous time circling the area at Dataran Merdeka hoping for a parking spot to magically appear. It didn’t appear of course, simply because there were no spots. We had to dump the car in some god-forsaken corner, pray a truck wouldn’t ram into it, make a mad dash to the collection booth, put up with the grumpy staff who shoved our race packs at us and dash back to the car.

THE FLAG-OFF TIME

Flag-off was at 8.30am, so we woke up at 6am, were at the MRT station by 6.45am, reached Raffles City station by 7am.

We had arrived way too early cos we were supposed to meet two other friends over there at 7.30am, so we had some time to kill.

The flag-off time for the KL Marathon was 7am, which meant we dragged ourselves out of bed at 4.30am, drove to Dataran and got there by 6am, spent the next hour lining up in front of the few lousy portable toilets, then made a mad dash for the starting line at 7am. I think flagging off at a decent 8.30am is a much better idea.

THE STARTING LINE

We were all gathered near the starting line at about 8am. The emcee was great and did a fab job getting everyone up and in the mood.

Pic by Susan Ng

He cracked a bunch of jokes and led the runners through a silly dance routine before the horn finally sounded at 8.30am.

I can’t even remember the emcee for the KL Marathon – he (or she) was that forgettable. The Penang Bridge Marathon emcee I can remember however, but for all the wrong reasons. She didn’t talk to us; she talked at us. She was like a matronly schoolteacher admonishing a bunch of silly kids (that was obviously us).  She added nothing to the atmosphere; just tossed out instruction after instruction. It was quite a turn-off really.

THE RUNNERS

There were 50,000 runners (hoo yah). Men and women were separated into different categories and had different start times.

The moment the horn sounded, everyone started running. Damn semangat. Nobody seemed to be slowing down but that was normal right? The crowd would probably start to thin out (and slow down) by the fourth or fifth km – or so I thought. But no wor.

Pic by Susan Ng

And what was more, most were running throughout the entire route. Even the ones who did slow down only slowed down for a few moments before picking up the pace again. These people were doing this for real – don’t play-play! I was impressed!

You have to understand where I’m coming from. As far as my experiences with Malaysian marathons went, some runners are already walking within the first few hundred metres. And as the kms go by, the crowd thins out and more runners start to do the half-run, half-walk thing (including yours truly). So in Singapore, I was impressed … and of course, stressed. Had to work harder to keep up, otherwise no face!

THE WATER STATIONS

There was so much water here, the only risk runners could possibly suffer from was being over-hydrated. There were water stations and at times, 100PLUS stations, every 2K or so.

I found myself giving the last water station a miss cos I was so well-hydrated. That has never happened before, at least not with Malaysian running events. I have never understood why our organisers are so kiam-siap with water. Aren’t these things sponsored? It’s inhumane (not to mention kinda dumb) to expect people to run in such hot weather and offer only one or two water stations along a 10K route.

THE FANFARE

There were so many people stationed along the route – school kids who played cheerleaders for the day, the first aid folks, supporters, volunteers and at one point, even a band.

Pic by Susan Ng

And these people weren’t window dressing either. They were really cheering us on, encouraging us to step it up. It was real motivation not to slack off (no face leh) … there’s hardly any fanfare here in Malaysia. The handful of people stationed along the route is usually either busy yakking with one another or simply looking utterly bored, swatting mosquitoes by the roadside. They make you want to ram into them with your running shoe, then give them paper cuts with your bib.

THE LAST 2K

While I was more than sufficiently hydrated through the entire 10K thanks to the many water stations, there was a downside to this. Because I was used to having water stations pop up every 3K or so, after having passed three water stations at the Singapore Marathon, I was under the impression that I had already done over 9K.

That was before I saw the sign, which said another 2KM – %$#@$#$#@!!!

… and then, this sign – %$#@%!!!

THE FINISH LINE

Despite my cussing, the last 1K before the finish line was really a lot of fun. There were so many supporters and cheerleaders along the way you couldn’t help but be boosted by their really loud enthusiasm. So there we were, running running running … 800m … 600m … 400m … the cheering got louder and louder and I heard strains of Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69. It was such a rush as everybody picked up the pace and gunned for the big finish. It was great

THE MEDAL COLLECTION

The moment we finished, we were herded down a designated path. I had no idea where we were going, so I just walked along. Within a few short minutes, I found myself inside a massive tent, the Finisher’s Medal placed in my hand and a warm “Congratulations” from a volunteer. Talk about efficient.

Pic by Susan Ng

At a Malaysian running event, not only is there no fanfare at the finish line, once you are done, it isn’t immediately clear where you’re supposed to go. Case in point: after finishing the KL Marathon, we were pretty much left to figure out for ourselves where to go. We asked around and were told to queue up to collect our medals. We spent the next 30 to 45 minutes queuing and the last 5 minutes shoving our way through to the collection counter (the crowd was merciless) to claim our hard-won piece of metal.

THE TOILETS

On the way out to the MRT station, I caught sight of rows and rows and rows of portable loos.

And rows and rows and rows … they looked exquisite.

If my remarks disturb you, again you must understand where I’m coming from. I come from a country of deplorable public toilets. So this beautiful row of toilets, to me, is nothing short of exquisite. Sublime. Divine. And look ma, no queues!

THE MCDONALD’S

As is customary after every run, we stuff our faces with the unhealthiest food we could find. Delicious.

And the McCafé Oreo cookie cake slice wasn’t too bad either.

THE END

So in conclusion, I love Singapore. Oh wait. Did I already mention that before?

Get Fit In 6 Minutes A Week!

Okay, somebody give me a cord. I want to strangle a researcher. First, they say don’t eat eggs, high cholesterol. Then they say, can eat eggs. Then, they say every day must take vitamins. Then, they say taking vitamins may be bad for you if you exercise. Then, they say every day must exercise for at least 30 minutes and now they say …

… 6 minutes of exercise A WEEK is enough to get fit. What the …??!!!

According to the Wellness blog at NYT, some researchers in Japan – after completing another grueling study on the collagen-boosting properties of wasabi sandwiches, I’m sure – decided to dump a bunch of rats in a big pot of water. One group (let’s call them Rodents A) was made to paddle for six hours and the other group (let’s call them Rodents B) was made to paddle furiously for 20 seconds. To make things more interesting, the researchers piled weights on Rodents B (what savages – and by savages, I mean the researchers, not the rodents). Rodents B was then allowed to rest for 10 seconds and then, dunked back to swim intensely for another 20 seconds. This was repeated 14 times, totaling about 4 over minutes in time. Then all the rodents were scientifically poked and prodded, and researchers found that the molecular changes – whatever that means – were the same in both groups of rats.

So the conclusion was, and I quote, “Six minutes or so a week of hard exercise had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness.”

And then, the killer question: Could it be that most of us are spending more time than we need to trying to get fit? Apparently, more and more sports scientists are beginning to say, “Yup.”

Aiya, so what is it now? 90 minutes, 60 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 6 minutes? A month, a week, a day? Morning time, afternoon time or evening time? Rats or rodents? Gerbils or hamsters? Come on, hurry up. I haven’t got all day, you know. I have to go drown myself in a pot in precisely six minutes.

It’s Good To Be Chubby, Says Study

It’s half-way to being official: being chubby has its benefits. Researchers did a study (read it here and here) on 11,000 people over a 12-year period and found that people with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 were less likely to die than those with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. One of the authors of this study said and I quote, “Overweight is protective.”

What?? Overweight is protective? Protect us from what, I wonder. Death, perhaps.

Last I checked, my BMI was 19. Of course, that was five years ago and I haven’t checked since. I don’t believe in BMIs (just like I don’t believe in weighing myself). But now, they’re saying the fats we try so hard to avoid are actually good for us and can help us live longer. Aiya, why early-early never say?

I don’t know about these researchers, but I’ve come up with a few reasons in support of chubbiness:

1. You look jollier
2. Your butt doesn’t hurt when you sit for a long time
3. You’re nicer to hug
4. You’re more likely to have headlights and a bumper (if you know what I mean)
5. You can eat donuts and cookie sandwiches
6. You live longer
7. You’ll make a nicer-looking granny

Okay, I’m sold. It’s time to chase the chubs! (Of course I’m aware that this isn’t the actual meaning of chubbychasing but hey, if the shoe fits). My first order of business is to up my donut allowance to three a week. Yippy

I Hate Being Sick (Doesn’t Everybody?)

Yup. It’s the Putrajaya International 12-Hour Walk 2008 tonight and even though I’ve registered and paid, I won’t be going. Because. I. Am. Still. Sick. It has been one week and I. Am. Still. Sick. It’s downright bloody awful. Since Monday, I’ve had the viral flu – fever, headache, sore throat, chills, body ache, the works, and I’ve not slept in two whole nights. Last night, I was wide awake (and miserable) until 6.30am, so right now I basically feel like crap.

You know what’s the worst thing about being sick for me? Apart from feeling like a train wreck, I’m simultaneously suffering from three other things:

1. The ‘I-Shouldn’t-Be-Sick-Guilt-Complex’

I feel guilty every time I fall sick. I’d rather fall sick over the weekend than do it over the week and have to take time off because that makes me feel guilty. I know co-workers who have no qualms about taking a sick day or two, but I have this crazy Sacrificial Lamb mentality – god knows where it came from. Oooh, look at me, I can work right through the year without taking a single sick day; someone give me a medal. I guess I sometimes forget that nobody really cares.

To make matters worse, several days ago, an article in The Star brings up the fact that 5.5 million local employees in the private sector took an average of 4.2 days of medical leave per year, compared to Britain’s stellar 0.91 days per year. “Employers feel that employees are taking advantage in this area,” the President of Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) was quoted as saying.

I felt worse after reading that despite the fact that I’d only taken one sick day since January. My Britain-like record had to be tainted so close to year end.

2. The ‘What’s-The-Point-Of-Eating-Broccoli-If-I’m-Going-To-Be-Sick-Syndrome’

I’m no health nut but I try to eat right as much as I can. I do the fruit and veggie thing, I rarely eat fried foods, haven’t touched carbonated drinks in years and you won’t find me lining up at a fast food joint all that often. And to be honest, I adore broccoli. And while I’m no fitness freak, I try to get in a decent amount of exercise every week. You know the saying, “A man’s health can be judged by which he takes two at a time – the stairs or the pills.” Well, I take the stairs three at a time!

My point is, I take care of myself. And I know it’s unreasonable but I get somewhat discouraged when I fall sick. All this stuff I’m doing … for nothing. It’s worse when I see someone next to me (who’s so obviously the poster child of what NOT to do) being perfectly happy and healthy during this rainy flu season. It’s not fair.

3. The Unwarranted Philosophical Journey

Being sick makes you start to think. Mainly because you’re lying around in bed all day with nothing to do. But yeah, it makes you think. I’m not a big fan of thinking. I think too much (to my own detriment) and I desperately want to find ways to stop this mental menace, but alas …

French mathematician/philosopher Blaise Pascal was quoted as saying, “The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” I think there’s truth to that, don’t you? Take away your busy work schedules, your friends, your activities … take away everything on the side. Leave you just as you are, with nothing but you, your virus and (cue scary music) your thoughts. Three days and I guarantee you’ll go berserk. I already am. BERSERK AND DEPRESSED. There’s only so much me-time I can take.

………………………………….……………………………….………………………………

Okay, I’m done rambling. Do I feel better? A little. I’ll probably get better and be amused by all the stuff I’ve written here today. Oh well. I can always blame it on the fever – makes people do crazy things.

I Heart My New Shoes

I got a new pair of running shoes. Finally!! I know that shoes are the most important thing when it comes to running (next up is a good sports bra) but I’ve been too preoccupied with what I’m wearing from the knees up to worry too much about the shoes. But I gotta do this um, “thing” next weekend which requires a good pair of shoes – don’t ask me what; you’ll know soon enough – so I had no choice but to go shoe-shopping.

This may come as a shock to some of you but I don’t actually like shopping. Seriously. I don’t. I think it’s a major pain in the butt. I’m not one of those girls who can spend an entire day going from store to store to store window-shopping. I’m vehemently against window-shopping. If you got no money, stay home la. What’s this window-shopping nonsense?? You go into a store, you BUY SOMETHING. Otherwise, you’re just taking up space. For me, if I need to buy something, I’ll go to one or two stores and if I don’t find something I like, I get bored and start looking around for a cinnamon bun.

So with my shoes, I went to New Balance (after quickly deciding that I’d be insane to buy another pair of Nikes). The guys there were very professional, extremely helpful and they sure knew their stuff. Which was great cos I sure didn’t know mine. I was so impressed by the service that I very nearly bought the shoes on the spot. Problem was, I couldn’t stand the way they looked. They were bright orange (which was really cool) but they also made me look like the Ronald – as in McDonald. Yes yes, I know. It’s not about how good/bad the shoes look; it’s about how well/poorly they fit you, blah blah blah. I’m sorry la but for me, it’s always about HOW THE SHOES LOOK. Come to think of it, it’s always about how EVERYTHING looks, but let’s not get into that kettle of fish just yet.

Anyways, that dismal shopping attempt was a month ago. Last weekend, I went to Studio R. Tried on various brands but wasn’t too excited about any of them. Then I tried on a pair of Asics and omg, I fell in love. They were absolutely perfect. They felt amazing and they looked great. I paid for them right away. No cinnamon bun for me today.

You know how in relationships, you know when you find The One (you also know when you find The Wrong)? That’s how it is with shoes. When you find The One, everything is just … right. Then you start spending lots of time together, and the shoe/guy loses some of his initial lustre, begins to chafe/annoy you, starts to get scruffy/gain weight, gives you bunions/grief, starts to look old and boring next to the newer, snazzier models … but that’s a long way from happening (I give it six to eight months tops).

For now, I’m optimistic me and my Asics will have a long, happy relationship. Unfortunately, this relationship’s gotta wait a while before it’s consummated – I’ve been nursing a damn fever since I brought them home!!!

Exercise A Must (Oh Is It?)

I wake up this morning feeling lazy. I’m supposed to get in a short work out before heading off to the office but I don’t feel like it. I’m having my coffee and flipping through the papers, a battle raging in my head: maybe I should work out, maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I should, maybe I shouldn’t, should, shouldn’t, should, shouldn’t. The ‘shouldn’t’ was winning until I turn the page and see this.

The headline reads: Exercise a must, says Rosmah (huh?). Apparently, we are to “spend about half an hour each day to do some physical exercise to keep fit and healthy (oh is it?). Just 20 to 30 minutes a day is sufficient as long as it is done continuously (really ah?).” She then tells us to embark on healthy “activities like aerobics, going to the gymnasium or taking part in jogathons.” (All this coming from a woman whose only form of exercise, as far as I can see, is balancing a head full of hairspray).

After wiping away the tears of laughter coursing down my cheeks, I hop onto my machine and pedal furiously for a good 45 minutes. Then I go wash out my eyes with chilli padi. There’s only so much Fat & Ugly I can handle in one morning, you know.

Yes, I understand the government is trying hard to get the rakyat off their butts and lose some poundage, but come on. If you really want to make exercise appealing, stop putting up pictures of men who look like they’re nine months pregnant and women who look like they just ate their kids for lunch.

God, I need to erase all the Ugly I’ve just witnessed.

Okay, that’s much better. And for added measure …

… ah … now … um, what were we talking about again?

Jogging @ KLCC Park

We’re running out of parks to visit. Looks like we might soon be going back to our routine. Bummer. There are only so many lakes you can go run around, I guess. Well, this Sunday morning, it’s the KLCC Park. It’s not easy, I tell you. Do you have any idea how it feels to be walking through the Shopping Mall and not … actually shopping? (Partly cos no stores are open at 8am, and partly cos I’m here to exercise my body, not exercise my credit card). It’s agony. But having said that, I do like the feel of a quiet, empty mall. It’s almost like being in a place of worship. You feel a sense of awe, of reverence, makes you want to drop down into a lotus position and start to meditate. We don’t do that, of course. Instead, we march past it all and go out into the 20-hectare park.

The fountain area is full of workers hard at work cleaning it out. Yeah, they should. Clean up the garbage before the 10am lepak crowd throngs the place to hang around on the steps, throw rubbish on the ground and have Ramly burger picnics on the tiled floor.

Anyways, the KLCC Park jogging trail starts here – somewhere to the right of the fountain area, where the Convention Centre is. So used to being on tarred road all the time, I’m not used to the rubberised path, but it’s definitely easier on the joints. Looks incredibly inviting too. By then, there are quite a lot of people at the park – families, kids, photographers and several serious runner-types (you can always tell from their tanned, toned arms and legs – sigh).

I really like it here. Beautiful wide open spaces, plenty of cops around (just in case you decide to run amok and you know, tunjuk perasaan or something), quite a number of drinking water fountains – while I would never drink from them, it’s nice to see that they’re there. There’s also a kiddie playground right in the centre of the loop.

The entire trail is about 1.2km – a lot shorter than I’d expected. Along the way, though, you get to enjoy plenty of nice views …

… like the sight of ongoing construction …

… a humongous mosque (it wouldn’t be Malaysia if there weren’t a mosque nearby now, would it?) …

… and of course, the splendorous Petronas Twin Towers …

… I love the sight of the towers and no matter how many times I see them, they never fail to impress. I love how they loom majestically above everything and can clearly be seen no matter where you are in the park.

If I had to work in KL, this is where I’d like to be. Come 6pm, when everybody’s all busy crawling their way home in the mad KL traffic, I can nicely put on my workout clothes and go let off some steam in the park, come back up, shower and then, when traffic has eased, go home. Ah, that would be the life. Unlike where I’m working now (which shall remain undisclosed), there’s nothing green within nowhere. It’s very pathetic. Only plenty of lousy longkangs, rows of haphazardly triple-parked cars and a contingent of notorious snatch thieves that prowl the streets at lunch time. Sure, there’s a gym two minutes’ drive away but I don’t feel like paying money to climb stairs that aren’t there or run on a ‘road’ that goes nowhere.

We do our customary one hour thing and then, head out of the park and back to the mall. We toy with the idea of breakfasting in one of the cafés but decide against it cos we have no cash on us. Besides, nobody wants a bunch of sweaty, stinky girls sitting in their establishment, scaring away the customers.

Walking through the mall again at 9am, we’re again burdened by the guilt of being there and not buying anything. It’s a crime, I tell you. But when we get to the machine and have to pay a parking fee of RM4 for a measly one hour, the guilt quickly dissipates. Hmm. Guess my purse gets a workout after all.