Tucked away behind the busy Orchard Road is the lesser known sister of the Pan Pacific Hotel chains, the Pan Pacific Orchard. Now that I have tasted the great food at the signature restaurant, 10 at Claymore, I think the lesser known sister should have a chance to revel in the limelight.

After a little poking around the internet, it seems like 10 at Claymore has been quite popular for it’s buffet spread and so I was quite curious when I was invited down by Citibank and the 10 at Claymore folks to try out food from the à la carte menu. I was also joined by 7 other bloggers: Chester, Veron, Keropokman, James, Walter, Jeneen and Claudia.

Seeing that the restaurant expected us down, I won’t talk about the excellent service that the staff showed as there but without any biassed opinions, the food served to us was great! Pardon me for not packing vocabulary like a food connoisseur does but you have to believe me when I say the food is great, considering that I hardly get excited over food much.

I forgot whose idea it was to share food around like Thanksgiving instead of ordering mains for each of ourselves but I think everyone enjoyed eating chunks and morsels of food from the variety that 10 at Claymore served us that night.

If you every make your way down, do try the Thai Beef Salad from the appetiser section and for mains, do try the delicious Oven-Roasted Bonito Cod.

Oven-Roasted Bonito Cod with Honshimeji Mushrooms, Pea Sprouts and a Garlic Shoyu Sauce ($29)

Now, if you have a fat wallet and/or has a thing for beef, I implore you to spend it on the Blackmore Wagyu Beef Tenderloin. It is 200g of Wagyu Beef goodness that stirs my gastric juices as I am typing out this blog post. Even Veron who isn’t much of a beef person, enjoyed the tenderloin of Marbling score 9+.

“What MARBLING SCORE?!?” you might ask? Well, I was clueless also and apparently, a benchmark marbling/marble score of 1 to 9+ is given to Wagyu beef which grades it on the amount of intramuscular fat that gives the famous Wagyu it’s famous juicy texture. Need I mention that the best grade is on the high side?

Blackmore Wagyu Beef Tenderloin (200g) 600 Days Grain Fed – Marbling Score 9+ ($100)

Yes. It costs $100 and I swear that I didn’t knew of the price until someone pointed it out to me on the menu. Truthfully, it’s not something that I would order if I had to pay because of the hefty price tag but it’s worth every cent! The meat was juicy and the generous portion is good enough for most folks. I had it medium-rare so as to fully savour the goodness of the meat but I think it’s also extremely delicious served medium. Anything more cooked than that and I’ll go over and kill you myself…. and eat the remainder of the Wagyu beef you ordered….

10 at Claymore has a few promotions if you are a Citibank card holder:

• Valid 1st Aug 2010 – 30th Sep 2010
  Get 1 complimentary THE CLAYMORE (which is a steak) with any order from the grill menu.
  Get a 2nd grilled item from the grill menu for $10 only, with any order from the grill menu.
• Valid till 31st Dec 2010
  • 15% off total bill

Pan Pacific Orchard
10 Claymore Road
Singapore 229540

[Disclaimer: Citibank is a client of my company and the food was kindly sponsored by the restaurant. My opinions of the food are of my own and are not influenced in any way or by anybody.]

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Dog owner was found! Thanks for helping out to spread the word and all the offers to adopt her!

My Mum found this female brown/white Shih Tzu loitering around Blk 462 Jurong West St.41 today.

She seems to have just went for grooming judging from her short and neat fur and trimmed toenails.

If you are the owner of this lovely dog, or if you know the owner of this Shih Tzu, please call me at XXXXXXXX.

• Brown/white Shih Tzu
• Brown Eyes
• Very friendly
• Found at Blk 462 Jurong West St.41 on 5th June before 11am.

Do help me spread word of this guys! Somebody must be missing this dog a lot.

p.s. She seems to take a liking to me. My heart ached a little when she curled up under my chair just like Junior used to do…

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I just posted the picture below on Twitter, Plurk & Facebook to ask if anyone knew what these are for.

And these are the couple of interesting guesses I got from the peeps online…

LOL!

These are actually “adhesive buttons” called TackOnz from a company called LiquidXcape. What they do is to replace the common way of securing racing bibs onto tees using safety pins.

The problem with safety pins is that they damage the tees, are difficult to put on and dangerous (SHARP PINS!!!! HELLO???). If your safety pins are rusted, it will even stain the event tees.

With TackOnz, the problems above are solved and it will just leave a small nipple-like mark on your tee after use which will apparently go away after a wash. It also addresses a problem that I suspect a lot of people would have like me – I am damn anal about making the bib parallel to the horizon base of my tee. Safety pins are such a pain in the ass when it comes to aligning the bib.

I wanted to test the TackOnz for my Adidas Sundown Marathon race but if don’t already know, I am out injured. But, from what I can tell, it is extremely secure and I don’t see it dropping in the middle of any race unless the race involves wrestling with a grizzly bear with PMS.

TackOnz comes in a package of 6 buttons and is retailing at $12 per pack. It is available at New Balance Concept Stores in Singapore. Discounts are available for bulk purchases (That’s how I got mine thanks to the folks at SGRunners).

More info can be found at LiquidXcape’s website.

I’ll probably do an update if I ever get fit enough to enter my next race. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll find a PMS-ing grizzly bear.

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I started joining long distance races only last year and signed on for 3 of them so far: Singapore Bay Run 2009 (21km), Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 (42km) & Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 (21km).

A couple of weeks before Singapore Bay Run last year, I was out with flu for a good 3 weeks and struggled to complete the whole of 21km. I didn’t even go for the Standard Chartered run because of a persistent hacking cough that lasted for 3 months before the race.

The Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 is just this Saturday and guess what? I have been out injured because of a suspected inflamed tendon in my right foot that has been plaguing me for the last 3 weeks. Did I trigger this injury from training?

Nope!

I got it from chasing down a bloody bus because I wanna get home earlier to run!

Yes. That is my foot and the x-ray scan of it. No. HP Touchsmarts does not do x-ray scans but they sure make a useful backlight to see film like that.

I know that people always have an impression that I am pretty fit and *ahem* I think that is not far from the truth. *cough cough*

But I am and have been quite injury prone throughout my life and while I embark on this long distance running phase of my life, it seems pretty apparent that my injury woes continue to bug me like a persistent STD. (Not that I have one…)

KuKuNehNeh claims that I am cursed from running and told me to stop signing up for races because SOMETHING ALWAYS happens right before the races that displaces me back to square one sometimes even when I was training very hard.

Am I cursed?

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Hi. My name is Kris and I have an addiction.

I used to think people were crazy to love it. How can anyone with a sane mind possibly love doing it?

It was hard to even begin at first. Every sense in my body told me it was the wrong thing to do. Friends told me how damaging it was for those who tried. Most people felt disgusted by it and wouldn’t even attempt it. Only a handful found it to be the missing piece in their lives and these rare ones are usually labelled ‘crazy’ by the rest.

Then something changed last year after I started trying it out. It felt exhilarating. It left me high and dry and wanting more even when my body tells me not to. Fatigue will sometimes last long after doing it but I can’t help but do it again. Every time I recover, I felt that I wanted more and more. I am almost obsessed with doing it at a higher frequency than most normal people would ever do it for.

I started to reduce my daily activities, socializing and sometimes even forgoing food, just so that I could spend more time on it. People frown when I talk about it. I can almost see the disgust in their faces when I explain my love for it. It makes me feel guilty sometimes when I attempt to persuade others to try it out, especially when their frowns deepen.

Many say humans are not meant to do it so much. It is harmful.

I say that they are wrong. It is the very thing that makes us human.

Hi. My name is Kris and I have an addiction to running.

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[Advertorial]

Did anybody who read about the Sony make.believe contests here manage to become one of the finalists? If you didn’t manage to be one of the lucky few finalists for the Dot Your Dream With Sony and the Fifa World Cup Photo Contest, fret not!

From now till 14th April 2010, you may vote to decide the winners from the 2 mentioned contests and stand a chance to win a prize from one of the following 4 choices.

1. A pair of match tickets  to watch the finals of FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010
2. A pair of match tickets for you and your child to go to South Africa where your child will have the honour of being a FIFA Flag Bearer.
3. Sony Dream Set A (worth $5000)
4. Sony Dream Set B (worth $5000)

Just head down to Sony’s make.believe site to cast your vote!

1. Choose your favourite contestant from Dot Your Dream.
2. Choose your favourite photo from FIFA World Cup Photo Contest.
3. Choose one of the 4 prizes you wish to win.
4. Enter your particulars.

THAT’S IT!

Take a look at the following short video from Claudia to see how easy it is.

Remember that you have only until 14th April to cast your vote.

Go now!

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1st January, 1997. I still remember the day when Junior 1st stepped into our house. I am sure because it was the night before I started my repeated Sec 3 year in the Express stream. My brother, Benne, had been wanting a dog and it happens that a friend of my Mum’s had a dog whom he had trouble with at his place.

Junior was the dog’s name.

He was a matured puppy and created quite a lot of trouble at his owner’s place because he was extremely horny and harassed the female dog to no end. Demand met supply and he came to our house that evening. He was scared at 1st and constantly ran around the living room, not wanting to settle down. I used to sleep in the living room at that point in my life and when the lights when off, he started to be more adventurous and sniffed at everything he could lay his wet nose on.

Junior came to our house ‘toilet’ trained and he would only pee on sheets of newspaper that we placed in the kitchen. Even that was rare as he would usually hold his pee in and patiently waited for the 3 walks he will get everyday from either my Mum, Benne or myself. What started off as 10min walks along the patch of grass at the front of my HDB void deck became 30 min walks around the neighbourhood park and soon became 45mins to 1 hour walks around the park AND some parts of the neighbourhood.

He was a crafty one.

He tries very hard to stretch his walks into new territory every time he gets a chance to go downstairs. I always joke with my friends that we don’t walk him. He walks us. The people who see us on his walks will often see him pushing ahead with us barely keeping up on the taut leash. Mind you, he was a bloody strong Shih Tzu/Maltese cross breed. He will sniff and pee on anything he fancies and controls each pee to a dribble so that he can mark his territory as much as he could. I remember his favourite thing to pee on are leafy branches that fell or got cut from trees. I used to try and think dog and thought that he knew it was impossible to climb a tree to pee on the top branches and this is his way of going around it. He even occasionally grin at me while peeing at the branches.

He loves bak kwa, durian, char siew rice and most of all, chicken. Junior was pretty much a lazy dog who did things his way and only responds to few words/sentences like his name and “chicken”. The last word being the most responsive actually and probably would have been his name had he not came to our house with one already.

His love for human food did not overrule the insistence of us to have him on a proper diet and so we still kept his main diet to canned and dry dog food. He soon became a plump dog even with such a diet and frequent walks. But the weight gain was pretty welcomed as there was once when he was skinny enough to disappear from the house through the metal grilles on our gate. There was another instance when he disappeared from the house and had us all frantically looking for him as he crosses roads even if there was a F1 race going on the very same road.

Junior used to be closest to me as I would be the one to bring him on the majority of the walks and fed him food everyday. Years past and my time at home lessened and so was the bond Junior had for me. He soon identified my Mum as his owner and was extremely protective of her. So protective that Benne and me couldn’t wake my sleeping Mum without him growling at us and looking like he was ready to chew us slowly from the toes up if he had to.

My Mum loved him as much as she would love a dear son. And he loved her back the same, if not more.

Mum once slipped and fell in the toilet and concussed while all alone at home. It was Junior’s licking of her face and whimpering that woke her up. She had fractured her back and had to crawl her way to the living room to make a call for help. I don’t know what would had happened if Junior wasn’t there to help her gain conciousness.

Years pass and I spend even lesser time at home. So much that he would bark at me when I approach the door as though he sensed a stranger approaching.

I still love him dearly and I treasured the 2nd class citizen attitude he had for me whenever I am home.

I love disturbing him with my morning breath.

I love to tickle him till his legs spasm uncontrollably.

I love massaging him and stopping to hear him give an audible sigh of shiokness.

I love to grind my knuckles in his ear and watch him tilt his head towards the massaged ear.

I love to laugh when he sometimes let his tongue roll out from the side.

I love him.

Months back, we started to see a decline in his overall health. He was more grumpy, less energetic during walks and recently, a little hard of hearing at times. His once thick and rich white fur is a little sparse and his eyes lost the dark glassy glow that he was graced with when younger. We resigned it to his age and let nature take it’s course.

23rd March, 2010. My Mum brought Junior on one of his walks and he suddenly collapsed after making an attempt to hop over a small gap of a drain. All his 4 paws were off the ground and he whimpered a couple of times before going dead silent. Mum frantically picked him up and realized he wasn’t breathing and she couldn’t feel any heartbeat at all. She could see the whites of his eyes and his ghastly white tongue and held his limp body in her bosom as she cried; thinking that he died. She kept kissing him and calling his name and Junior regained conciousness but remain dazed. She immediately rushed to The Animal Clinic in Clementi and unfortunately the vet was out for lunch but an attendant determined that it wasn’t a heart problem as Junior was able to walk by that point in time.

Noon. 24th March, 2010. Junior has not ate and only drank for the last 2 days and my Mum brought him to visit the same veterinary clinic. The vet who attended to Junior told my Mum that Junior’s heart was found to be beating weakly and prescribed a medication to help his heart condition.

8pm. 24th of March, 2010. I came back home after work and Junior barked at me approaching the gates like any other day. Little did I know that that was the last time I would ever hear him bark at me. He looked weak as I came into the house and it was to be expected as he has just started his 1st day of medication.

I went out for a run and came back around 10pm. I would usually stroll slowly home from the park after a strenuous run and I don’t know why but I fast walked home this time. I opened the gate to find Mum and Benne, seated on the floor; their eyes were red with fresh tears  and their eyes darted to the bottom of the sofa. Mum told me that Junior ‘cannot make it already’. He had a similar fainting spell and peed uncontrollably when he lost conciousness. I check him out and he was lying underneath the sofa, awake but looking weak. I still remember his eyes darting to my face as though wanting to stand up but unable to.

Part of me wanted to scream at my Mum and brother for giving up on him so easily but I bit my tongue. I cannot blame them as I did not see him black out and they probably resigned to fate on such a sight. I asked my Mum for the clinic’s number and managed to reach the same vet who directed me to Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital and we all rushed down to the hospital. Junior was placed in an oxygen tank and looked to be doing better while a vet was being called in to take a look.

After a good 40 mins or so, the vet finally made it to the hospital and after checking junior out for an initial assessment, she determined him to have a grade 3 heart problem on a scale of 1 to 5. He had to be taken out of the oxygen tank to take 2 x-rays to confirm the assessment and to find out other problems. From the x-ray, it was certain that it was quite bad. His heart was engorged and his lungs with filled with fluids which explained why he had difficulties breathing. At this point in time, he was clearly panting way heavier than before and took some jabs which were supposed to help him clear the fluids.

He had to be hospitalized for the night for his condition to stabilized and thinking that he would rest better without seeing us around, we left for home.

Barely minutes after reach home around 1am+, I received a call from the vet and she said Junior blacked out and she managed to resuscitate him and will not call me again if everything is well. I told my Mum and brother about it and returned to my com to finish up some work. I then received a call from the vet and she said Junior blacked out again and this time she was having difficulty reviving him. I choked up on the phone while she told me that I should go back to the hospital if I wanted to. Thinking that he was as good as dead, I choked in tears as I roused my brother and told my Mum about the call. She immediately wailed and called out Junior’s name. The same heart busting wail that I only heard one other time when my Grandma died.

We rushed down by taxi to the hospital in tears and I was surprised to see Junior still alive, albeit barely. Vet told us that she had to extract blood and fluid out of his lungs to save him and it dawned upon me on her tone and choice of words that we should consider putting him to sleep.

And so we did.

Before the lethal dose was injected into Junior, we stood around him while my Mum whispered her’s, Benne’s and my love for him. In between sobs, she told him that we didn’t want him to suffer. After some time, she motioned for my brother to say his goodbyes and he walked over to kiss him for the last time. I was standing some distance away at that point in time; lost in thoughts, hands folded; probably half wanting to be the strong one and not wanting to accept the fact that the dog I loved for the last 13 years is going to die.

I finally stepped forward and reached out to pat his forehead. As if he was waiting for me to do that and he suddenly took a few hard breaths and stopped breathing. I called for the vet and the attendant immediately asked if he should proceed. Before he could finish his sentence, I said “Yes.”

2am. 25th March, 2010. Junior died on that table.

Junior led a very happy life. He brought joy and laughter to this family and was loved fiercely by us.

I miss him terribly and I love him so very dearly. All I hope is that he died, knowing that we all loved him like a brother, a son and a dear friend.

Goodbye Junior. I Love You.

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[Advertorial]

I hope you have read my post about Sony’s make.believe (make-dot-believe) campaign and as of the time of this post’s publishing date, you have less than a week to submit your dream to Sony!

Sony has 2 contests running for this campaign; the 1st is the Dot Your Dream with Sony Contest and the 2nd is the Fifa World Cup Photo Contest.

Dot Your Dream With Sony Contest

Grand Prize: Winner to be sponsored by Sony up to S$100,000 to aid him/her in realizing a dream.

2nd Prize: BRAVIA 46″ LCD TV, Blu-ray Home Theatre System, Playstation®3, VAIO Notebook, Cyber-shot Digital Camera and Walkman® MP3 Player (worth S$10,000).

3rd Prize: BRAVIA 40″ LCD TV, Home Theatre System, VAIO Notebook, Cyber-shot Digital Camera and Walkman® MP3 Player (worth S$5,000).

How to take part: Point your browser to Sony’s make.believe website and submit your dream under any of the 4 categories (game, movie, music, technology) and within 250 characters. 8 finalists (2 from each category) will be chosen in a lucky draw and if your dream is one of the 8 after the announcement on 1st April, all you have to do after that is to rally for votes to win!

More details about the contest can be found in the FAQ sections.

Fifa World Cup Photo Contest

Prize: 8 winners will get to go to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa as Fan Photographers where they will get to shoot all the action up close by the pitch!

How to take part: Visit Sony’s make.believe website and submit a photo of a special moment in your life and give it a good caption or title. If you are one of the 25 shortlisted participants, your photo will be up in an online voting contest from 1st April and the top 8 winners will be decided from there.

More details about the contest can be found in the FAQ sections.

Isn’t is so easy to enter both the contests and have a chance of making a special dream come true? If not for my company’s affiliation with Sony for this campaign, I would have submitted an entry for the Dot Your Dream contest.

Both contests’ closing date for submissions is on the 14th of March 2010, so don’t waste any more time and head down to Sony’s make.believe site!

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I’ve been blessed for the last 2 months with a review unit of LG’s new line of LED Backlit LCD Monitors and got no less than the super wide 24″ version, the LG W2486L.

I’ve been using a Samsung 19″ monitor and the immediate reaction upon unboxing the LG W2486L is the sheer size of the screen. LG has been striking on the right notes for the aesthetics of their products and the LG 86 series of monitors maintains the same note with its sleek looking monitor and still packing punches with it’s specifications.

• Display Type: LCD display / TFT active matrix
• Depth: 7.8 in (19.81cm)
• Height: 17.4 in (44.2cm)
• Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.4kg)
• Display aspect ratio: 16:9
• Image Contrast Ratio: 2000000:1 (dynamic)
• Video Format: 1080p
• Color Support: 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
• Response Time: 2ms
• Signal Input: 2xHDMI, 1xDVI-D, 1xVGA

Just look at how slim the LG monitor is and it's all thanks to LED technology.

It’s sheer size had me demoting my 19″ monitor to the side as a secondary display and using the 24″ LG W2486L as my primary display. As much as I love PC gaming, it’s tough trying to find time to play games on my computer. But I definitely tried to play games like L4D2 and Dragon Age:Origins just to compare the gaming experience on the new monitor. The size, widescreen ratio (16:9), contrast ratio and response time definitely makes it a great monitor to consider if you are into gaming and I definitely wish for more time to play games and harness the quality and screen estate it can provide.

I spend the bulk of my time at the computer juggling between work, socializing and watching videos (I know what you are thinking but let’s not go there). The LG W2486L definitely meets every need that is required of my daily tasks and it definitely increased my productivity with the amount of information I can see with it’s wide ratio and resolution.

If there is a bone to pick, I wish the monitor screen could swivel more freely so that I can find a more optimal angle for my eyes in relation to my computer desk.

The LG W86 series of monitors are available in Singapore selling at the following recommended retail prices:

• S$388 for the 22-inch W86L
• S$498 for the 24-inch W86L

Thanks to Mariko and Aaron for the trial unit!

[Disclosure: I am one of ten only bloggers in Singapore who got to try the LG W86 series before it's local launch date. The unit is passed to me for a trial period for 2 months and I will be offered to purchase it at a discount at the end of the trial and the money will be given to a charity of LG's choice. All opinions in this post are of my own and are just as true when I say "I think I am pretty lame", which might or might not be true to you but definitely still of my true opinion.]

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I’ve been talking about it on Twitter, Plurk and telling friends about my recent change I made for running.

For the last 4 weeks, I have chucked away my Asics running shoe and got myself a pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSO.

If you cannot tell from the image above, it looks like someone decided to stick a thin layer of rubber on a toe sock and in fact, the actual product isn’t far from the truth.

“What? You chucked away a S$130 Asics cushioned shoe for a pair of rubber gloves for your feet and YOU RUN IN THEM?“

You have to understand the benefits of barefoot running and what modern shoes are offering to understand why I made the change but I shall not go too deep into that (Read this awesome article to change your perception about regular running shoes). I actually wanted to test the Vibram Five Fingers for another few more months before writing a post about it but I have to share with you how awesome it has been so far.

First, some personal history and the hard facts.

I have been suffering from plantar fasciitis in my left sole since 2003 and weak ankles in both my legs since 2002 from one too many sprains. I decided to quit soccer to keep my ankles (Yes I need em…). I picked up long distance running in May last year after failing my IPPT for the 1st time in 7 years.

Between May and October last year, I ran a total of 66 runs, clocking 218.35km and the longest run was 21km in 2hr 43mins.

I stopped running from October last year due to a cough that persisted for months and only started running again in January this year.

In my Vibram Five Fingers KSO for the last 4 weeks, I ran a total of 16 runs so far, clocking 78.59km and the longest run was 8.8km in 52mins 29secs.

Now, for the experience of running in Vibrams VS regular shoes.

Way before and also throughout the 220km I ran last year, I suffered sharp pains in my left sole due to plantar fasciitis and it happens so randomly but frequently that I come to regard it as being normal. After all, running so much has got to hurt right? I am running in thick, cushioned Asics shoes that is backed by decades of research and specifically chosen for me after an expert studied my feet and pronation and still it hurts. Running has got to hurt. Running is not natural. Injuries are common.

Or so they say…

After 3 months of not running, and doing research on barefoot running, I came across Vibram Five Fingers and they are arguably the next best thing to barefoot running. I am always up for radical solutions and I went ahead and got myself a pair of KSOs and went for runs…

1st run of 2.19km. The familiar pain in my left sole shot up my leg at the end of the run and I stopped.

2nd run of 3.3km. The pain occurred at the 2km mark but I kept at it and felt better from the 3km mark onwards.

3rd run of 4.5km. Pain started at the 3km mark and occurred frequently throughout the rest of the run.

4th run of 5km. No pain at all till the last 10metres from the finish.

Yup. "AMAZING SHIT" was what I described the Vibrams in my running log

Since then, I have not felt the same sharp pain from my sole till this date. That is 63.6km of running without my plantar fascia flaring up. And considering that I am running at a pace between 30-40seconds faster per km and twice as much mileage per month this year, I cannot describe this experience without mentioning the word ‘miracle’ and you can probably only share my joy if you suffer the same conditions as me.

Any idiot can tell that the odd looking Vibram Five Fingers that I have been wearing for the last 4 weeks are not miracle shoes. They did not cure me of my plantar facsiitis as I still feel some distant strain on my plantar fascia during my runs but the sharp pain never came. But they did however, allowed me to reap the benefits of barefoot running while I keep my feet away from elements such as the rough asphalt, gravel, occasional small stones and frogs (yes I think I stepped on one the other day. Sorry dude).

I strengthened my calves and ankles that have been so shielded by those thick running shoes. I naturally changed my style of running to a mid/forefoot landing strike and I feel a much stronger runner in me when I take off running. I tried running in my clunky Asics the other day after 4 weeks of running in Vibrams and hated my whole run. My feet were heavy and I had no feedback from the ground at all through those huge pads of rubber in between my sensitive sole and the ground.

I know it all sounds too good to be true and so I am letting you on a reality check.

The top of right foot, right above the ball of my foot is now hurt and I think I have been too overwhelmed with running with the Vibrams that I have neglected the fact that I have been walking/running for at least 2 decades in thick soled shoes. My nearly naked feet are not conditioned to the kind of pounding I do on the asphalt roads and cement and I ignored the fact that I actually had to do a more gradual transition.

While I listen to my body this time and take a good break to let my foot recover, I am almost certain that barefoot running or in minimalistic shoes like the Vibram Five Fingers is extremely good for me. I probably need a whole year of running and even more to be sure of the benefits that has graced me so far and of course to make sure that I don’t solve a few problems and uncover a whole nest of bigger injury troubles.

But as far as I can tell right now. This is AMAZING SHIT.

If you are still skeptical, you can always incorporate some barefoot running on softer grounds like grass or track on top of your normal running or go purchase minimalistic shoes like the Nike Free so that you can run in things you still regard as shoes.

Do go read Christopher McDougall’s book titled “Born to Run” and be blowned away. (Still in stock at Kinokuniya I think…)

Or if you are already convinced by this post of mine, Vibram Five Fingers are sold in Singapore in quite a number of stores and the locations can be found here. (Link is down. Outdoor Life sells it at $175 $179 if you pay by cash. Cheaper than the top-end tier of shoes money can buy)

I’ll definitely keep running in them with the aim of completing my 1st marathon at the end of the year and I will update you guys with my progress in this blog!

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