Sembawang Circuit: 7km run

I was feeling real lazy today and after pampering myself with a chocolate ice cream, I was thinking of just slacking around at home. Somehow - it probably took great mental effort – I got into my running attire and once I managed to drag myself out of the house, it was no looking back.

I felt a little slow on the run today but surprisingly, I managed to hit a max rep of 17 pull-ups after the run. I think the last time I hit such a figure was nearly 2 years ago. I have never been particularly strong in my upper body strength anyway.

As I was walking home, I noticed several kids playing football at the multi-function hall and immediately, my memories took me more than seven years back when I spent my leisure time with a football. I remembered we played soccer so regularly and while we preferred the open fields, we had to make to do with whatever options available, be it the old street soccer court before it was demolished, the open space at the car-parks or the multi-function halls.

Trouble seemed to follow and scuffles aside, the major obstacle we faced were complaints from residents. They were just unwilling to accommodate a few kids (perhaps noisy and wild) on a lazy afternoon and often the police were called in to chase us away. We got so sick and irritated of being chased from almost every “pitch” we played on.

Kids will always be kids. As I watched the children play, surprisingly without interference from the same residents who were all-so-fond of giving us a good dressing down years ago, I felt a sense of nostalgia and delight that the kids were left alone in their own world. I will never understand why parents pressure their kids so hard these days and ironically, while they may have become more academically-inclined, their common sense seem to have taken a hit. Even more evident of an obvious degradation is their physical toughness. “Tofu” as the Chinese call, in reference to a weakling.