"Can Eat Eat"...Malaysia Styles, Part 2

Sarawak Laksa

Joy here...Okay, so the last time I was in Malaysia over the holiday season (and Malaysians know how to do Christmas well, trust me), I gained so much weight that I literally burst out of my pants before I got on the plane to return back to Canada.  This time, I narrowly missed bursting out of my pants, but that's only because I wore jeans that had some stretch in them this time.  I gained as much weight (if not more) than I did back in 2009.

Back in 2009, that pants-bursting-experience is the motivation that kicked my smooshy butt into action to sign up for my first ever running race, the 10km race that Nomi and I did together in May 2010.  Since then, I've done 5 other running races.  Now I'm going to use my newly smooshy butt as motivation to sign up for my next running race.  This time it's going to be the 1/2 marathon in my hometown.

Chicken Rice

You see, lately each year I've been in Singapore for the last weekend in May, first running the 10km race (2010) and then running the 21km race (2011).  But that same weekend is "Race Weekend" in Ottawa where I live right now.  I've never actually been around to participate in any of the events at this weekend, but thanks to my over-indulgence with booze and food while in Malaysia, I've decided to sign up for the local 1/2 marathon as my motivation to get back in shape and get over all the food that I've eaten for the last 3 weeks straight!

Everyone keeps telling me that the holiday season is a time of indulgence and that even professional athletes need an "off season," and I shouldn't feel bad about all the food and booze that I consumed since the start of our trip to Malaysia, and with only the odd 30-40minute run in my vibram five-fingered shoes, I've certainly had one heck of an "off season."

Now, it just remains to be seen whether or not I can have enough of an "on season" to work off my spare tire and train for a decent 1/2 marathon in 5 months!

In the meantime, enjoy this little pictoral of what I've been stuffing myself with, and you'll get a sense of what I'm carrying around on my midsection! :)

Home made Chocolate Mousse Cake with Cointreau Cream

Christmas lunch (vegetables, turkey, potato salad)

Salty Seaweed Snack

Mushroom Quiche with salad

Okay, I'm going to go and put on some sweatpants (one of the few pants that still fit these days) and go and have a workout.

Over and out,
Joy

Christmas in Malaysia

Christmas in KLCC (the base of the
Petronas Towers).

Joy here...One thing I love about this country:
THEY KNOW HOW TO DO CHRISTMAS RIGHT!

Back in Canada, everyone is really politically correct and respectful of diversity, and in so being, we are very aware of the privileged status of Judeo-Christian traditions in our otherwise secular state and don't want to push it in the faces of other people who hold other traditions and religions near and dear; now the unfortunate side effect of such sensitivity is a crazy watering down of holiday spirit.  You see, in Canada, no one really says "Merry Christmas" with abandon in the public sphere.  Nor would you hear Christmas carols that are overtly religious in nature.  Santa, yes/Baby Jesus, no.  In Canada, we wish each other "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" and we listen to Jingle Bells over and over and over again, sprinkled with the odd Here Comes Santa Claus...

Christmas in Pavilion (the most amazing mall
you will ever experience).

When we're amongst friends or family, we will wish each other Merry Christmas if we know that those friends and family members actually celebrate it.  We wouldn't presume.  And for those who are Jewish, we make a point of saying "Happy Hanukkah" (if we know they're Jewish for sure) or at least "Happy Holidays" (if we're not sure whether they are or not).

Children at school have "Holiday Concerts" not "Christmas" ones, and they have "Holiday Parties" not "Christmas" ones, and loads of people have no problem turning "Christmas" into "Xmas," even on their holiday cards and decorations.

In Malaysia, it's a little bit different.

Oh, I need a little Christmas, right
this very minute...

You see, technically, the "official" religion of Malaysia is Islam.  But, like Canada, Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious state; even with Islam being the "official" religion of the state there is freedom of religion and both sharia and secular court systems.  That said, they are unabashedly Christmassy in ways that Canadians have been trained is insensitive.  Girls wearing tudungs (Malay head scarves) smile at me on a regular basis and wish me a "Merry Christmas."  Whenever I buy anything in the shops, I am greeted with "Merry Christmases" throughout the interaction.  Restaurants have special Christmas menus and meals, and all the shops play the widest range of Christmas carols I've ever heard.  I've heard more about the birth of Baby Jesus in malls in this country where Islam rules the roost than I ever have in Canada.

People don't necessarily care whether Christmas as a holiday is mine or theirs, but they just love an excuse to have a holiday, and what's not merry about that???

My sister, who is visiting at the moment, saw some of the Christmas decorations in one of the newer malls in Kuala Lumpur, and when I asked her what she thought of it, she said "it was like Christmas of the future."  And I know what she means.  Malaysians out-Christmas the official celebrators of Christmas, and they mean business!

So let's buy stuff; let's sell stuff; let's give stuff; let's receive stuff; let's eat; let's drink, and let's have a merry ole time doing it all, and feel unabashed in our celebration of this crazy holiday with all its contradictions!

The Christmas decorations at the club attached to the park
where Nomi and I (and The Man) did our Christmas Eve run!

Over and out...and MERRY CHRISTMAS,

Joy

Fun Run in the Sun

Joy here...Every holiday season ends up being a season of indulgence.  We eat too much; we drink too much; we buy too much; we give too much; and we generally have too much of all good things out there. What happens then at this time of the year is that the athlete - be it a serious athlete or someone just trying to prevent herself from bursting out of her pants à la Joy 2009 - has a hard time sticking to a regimen of healthy eating and routine activity.

Early morning in the park.

This blog started in 2010, because in 2009 I spent the Christmas holiday season in Malaysia, stuffing myself silly for two weeks, and then exploded out of all my clothes.  Nomi and I looked at each other, looked at our midsections, and were signed up for our first ever running race, the 10km Sundown race in Singapore.  Then last year I spent the holidays in Canada, stuffing myself silly for an extended four-day weekend of indulgence, and then felt like exploding out of all my clothes.  This year, we're back in Malaysia, and I am well on track to meet (or even beat) my record of bursting out of my clothes!

We've been eating and drinking our body weight nearly every day.  'Tis the season, right?

The typical running loop...

The upshot of all this eating, all this drinking, is that we've also being doing a fair bit of running.  Instead of just sitting around on the couch all day, we've done two runs around the golf club where I've run with The Man and with Nomi before, where monkeys roam freely.  Instead of trying to run loops and loops there, we stuck to two 30-ish minute runs in our five finger shoes so that we can build up our distances as barefoot runners.  Then we've done two runs around the park where Nomi and I usually run.  These runs have been 40-ish minutes, so that's our new distance in the barefoot shoes.  And I can say, that at the end of each 40-minute stint, I wish that I was going to keep on going.  I feel like I want to keep running, and so stopping feels more like an act of restraint, to be careful with these new shoes, rather than an exhausted cessation of activity due to organ failure (which is kind of how I'm used to feeling at the end of a run; this new, invigorated feeling is kind of neat.).

...it even looks cool, doesn't it???

Here in Malaysia we're experiencing what everyone calls "Christmas weather," which feels nothing like the white Christmas in Canada that I'm used to, but which is truly lovely.  There is this fantastic breeze most days, and in the morning, the temperature has been known to dip as low as 23 C!  It's positively balmy.  So with the refreshing breeze and the sun high but not too hot, we've really been able to have fun with our little barefoot shoes and reinvigorate our running.

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that a few 30 or 40 minute runs here and there will be enough to counter the Christmas eating frenzy, or overcome the fact that one glass of wine has about 200 calories, and on any given day I've been consuming 5-12 glasses of wine (sometimes even more, but after 12, I stop counting...or rather, I lose the ability to count!).  I know that I've been eating and drinking much more than I've been working out at any kind of intensity.  I get it.

But what I mean to say here is that even with all the eating, all the drinking, and all the pants-splitting indulgence, I've been able to rekindle my love of running and just head out there into the tropical "Christmas weather" and run with my pink barefoot shoes making me feel like a kid again - a kid who loves to just run and run and run purely for fun.

Joy - just running for fun!

Over and out,

Joy

"Can Eat Eat"...Malaysia Styles!

Nasi Lemak

Joy here...Well, in addition to our first couple of barefoot runs since arriving in Malaysia, we've found time to fit in another couple of barefoot runs, at only 30 minutes each, and The Man has squeezed in a few good bike rides.  I chose not to bring my bike on this trip to Malaysia, and I think I'm regretting it.

You see, brief, 30 minute runs, no matter how fun they might be (and they are fun), are not really enough to stave off the midsection growth engendered by all the yummy Malaysian food we've been eating.  Even though we try to stick to our Paleo Diet food plan , i.e. no salt, sugar, gluten, starch etc., when we're in Malaysia, it's always extra hard to eat healthy and clean.  Add to that the fact that it's the holiday season, and you have a sense of the fact that trying to watch one's food intake is particularly hard.

So at this point, I think we're just on damage control and minimizing the problems caused by eating stuff that is, well, an indulgence!

So in the spirit of indulgence, enjoy these pictures that show just the kinds of goodies that we've been eating over the past week since arriving!

Yummy antipasti platter

Marinated Raw Fish

Beef Bourgignon

Homemade Indian food (courtesy of Cross Mansions)

Salmon Platter (both cooked and raw)

Now go and get something to eat, since I'm sure your mouth is watering just by viewing this smallest of samplings of what we've been up to since arriving!

Over and out,

Joy

Barefoot Running in the Tropics!

Joy here...Okay, so my posting of late has been rather lacklustre.  That's because, well, my workouts of late have been rather lacklustre.  I mean, I can't write much if I'm not doing much, can I?

Well, this will all change.  The Man and I arrived in Malaysia on Monday night (it's now Wednesday) and have gone for two barefoot runs in our bikila five-fingered shoes.  These haven't been super long runs (only about 30 mins), but we're terribly jet lagged, and so we're just happy to get back on the running wagon and get our mojo going, if you know what I mean.  Running out there in the tropical weather, with the humidity all around me, the light sweat on my skin, and the pavement beneath my five-fingered, barefoot shoes is transformative.  No longer do I feel bored and bound by the regular work-a-day world that can often threaten to suck me under, especially in a Canadian winter, but now I feel like I can do anything.  I can run barefoot, free as the breeze!

One of the greatest running books out
there - a must read for runners and non-
runners alike!

And what we've discovered since we were last here - preaching about the benefits of the five-fingered shoes and the barefoot running movement - some of our friends have joined us in embracing this barefoot running movement.  Two of our friends here just ran their first 1/2 marathons in the five-fingers, and another friend just bought his first pair last week.  So when they all came over yesterday to welcome us back to town, out of the 6 people sitting around catching up, 4 of us own five-finger, barefoot shoes, and the other two were Nomi and her Man.  Since Nomi just finished her first full marathon, as far as I'm concerned, her running credentials are without question; so now, we may just lure her over to the barefoot movement too (especially since she's already started wearing minimalist shoes).  I mean, I bought her a copy of McDougall's great book Born to Run about ultra-distance running, how humans are evolved to run, and the focus on barefoot running, so it's only a matter of time before she, too, joins us in the wonderful world of running barefoot!  While we decide what our next running races are going to be, what our next fitness goals will be, and determine where to set our sights next, we may just enjoy the sensation of running the way humans were meant to run:  barefoot.


Over and out,
Joy