Danang International Marathon 2019 – An Amateur Experience

This is my first ever participation in a marathon. So there is a lot to learn. I didn’t even know how to wear the tracking BIB number 😀

• The actual result will be *somehow* much more terrible than the one in practice, e.g 51’27s for 10.41 km vs 55’52 for 10 km. So,
  • Always prepare for the worst mentally and physically
  • Practice under tougher conditions
• Practice on the actual running path a few times beforehand if possible.
  I didn’t even though it’s hosted at “home”. Only “walkthrough” it twice…
  • Get used to the path and key milestones.
  • Plan my energy accordingly. I burnt out at the end when estimating the KM marker wrongly before the competitions.
• There are a lot of external & unexpected factors that could affect your performance:
  • There are (a lot) runners who participate for fun – or out of company compulsory. When they slow down or take a selfie; focus on yourself – your own gameplan.
  • And there are serious & super-start players. When they speed up, don’t be scared! Just ignore it. They’re not your competitors anyway.
  • People on different races could run on the same paths. So don’t be surprised when there are lots of people running ahead of you.
  • Reaching the finish line first doesn’t necessarily mean they run faster than you in a marathon, especially you’re on the last race corrals.

Running is exciting. It’s better for both health & wealth. Playing a competitive sport is closely related to running a business especially in terms of physical and mental toughness.

An interview with my cousin

Last week, a cousin of mine had come to Singapore with his daughter to visit his son who is studying JC here. Apparently we didn’t have much time to talk but I managed to have a small “interview” with him before he left. My question was short. “You’re now 51 – nearly 30 years older than me. You’ve lived almost 2/3 times of life. What’s your biggest regrets?”

From many others’ points of view, he’s a successful man. He’s got a happy family with a beautiful wife, a son studying abroad and a clever secondary-school daughter. Of course, he’s got a very decent career & a nice house too! His only concern now is to support & raise his children until they’re really mature which he refers to the University entrance.

But surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), he said it’s just the outward appearance. And when it comes to “regrets”, he does have quite a handful:

1. His biggest regret is Health (unsurprising for a man!)

He said he was still in good shape in the early 40s, let alone those early 20s & 30s. But now the consequences of over-drinking & partying while ignoring exercising begin to show up. It’s not so serious, he said. But he can’t drink much now as some diseases & pain starts to affect him. It’s terrible. I hope… he regretted! When we’re young, we all seem to take our health for granted while it’s actually our most important asset. It suddenly reminds me of Dalai Lama’s saying:

2. His second biggest regret is some skills he should have at least known

+ The first one is technology and foreign language as he didn’t know computer nor English at all. It makes me extremely less confident outside of my world – he regretted. When I come here I feel it more obvious than ever, he continues.

It’s followed by sport (football, table tennis, etc.) and art (singing, dancing, playing some musical instruments (guitar, piano, etc.). He doesn’t know how to play anything of those and that made him less “sociable” with friends. I’m friendly and “funny” but that’s all I have. When it came to other things like going karaoke or sport, I was just the “outsider”. But he masters his lessons and compensates for it in his children by providing them his best possible support in learning those extra skills which he claims to be very important apart from studying (knowledge) – and I totally agree with him.

3. The final one is once again unsurprising for me. It’s love (relationships).

He said although he has a wonderful family now, he didn’t have many memories in love and relationships. Some (very beautiful girls) had tried to approach him but he either refused or avoided them. If only I had the courage and right attitude to accept those invitations, he wished, I would have had a chance to know them at the very least. He may seem a bit greedy but I think it’s true. Relationships are utterly important in life.

But he thinks this is also partially a result of the 2 regrets above. If he had had a better health and a few of those skills, he would have very likely attracted many more people…

We finished at nearly 2 am on Friday night… gotta go sleep for our tomorrow work & flight..

Good Reads

These are great articles from various sources and writers which are worth a least a second read and thought. I keep them all here for future reference. This will be updated constantly, so bookmark it if necessary.

(English)

Lessons & Tips:

Fish don’t know they’re in water – Derek Sivers

We’re so surrounded by people who think like us, that it’s impossible to see that what we think are universal truths are just our local culture. We can’t see it until we get outside of it.”

Valuable to others, or only you? – Derek Sivers

When I’m hot, it’s hard for me to imagine that others in the room are cold. I think it really is hot, not that it’s hot only for me. It feels like fact, not opinion.”

Never Hurt to Ask – Darren Hardy

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive. Ye Have Not, Because Ye Ask Not

=> Before you ask: What have you tried?

Young people are screwed… Here’s how to survive  – Bryan Goldberg

Lesson No. 1: Learn to make something

Lesson No. 2: No, education is not the answer.

Lesson No. 3: Your parents and grandparents don’t understand your world. You should probably ignore them.

Lesson No. 4: Don’t worry about your network. Worry about your friends. [If you have successful friends, you will be successful.]

10 Smart Things I’ve Learned from People Who Never Went to College

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job – Steve Pavlina

10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion – Steve Pavlina

Ten Ways To Ensure You’re Driving Your Bus Instead of Just Being a Passenger

There’s No Such Thing as the Worthy Poor – Scott Dannemiller

Tim Ferriss Interview – Derek Sivers

Fuck, I Need Some New Swear Words – davidbanks

Disconnecting Distractions – Paul Graham

The Imperfectionist – Sarah

Smarter Than Your Parents – Steve Pavlina

Journal/Blogging:

You Should Write Blogs – Steve Yegge

Why You Should Write Things Down – Henrik Edberg

Presentation

Presentation Zen

Skills:

3 Entrepreneurial Skills You Won’t Learn In Business School: How to code, sell & hire

Why are you in such a rush? Dan Shipper – slow is smooth and smooth is fast

Sucking Less Every Year

10 Skills You Need to Succeed at Almost Anything

Design:

Content Without Design is Dumb – Pat

User Experience

Please make your article title as a link – it helps me & others to share it easier. Steve Pavlina and many others do this!

“Fuck You.” – Brad Frost

Next time you find yourself intentionally depriving someone an experience—to acquire knowledge, to complete a task, to do something online that can make their life even just a little better—picture yourself standing in front of that person in real life, looking them square in the eyes, then firmly and definitively saying “Fuck you.”

Habits

Busting the 21 days habit formation myth
How Long to Form a Habit?
Habit Formation: The 21-Day Myth
>> It takes more or less 66 days to form a new habits

Simply Successful Secrets Roundup!

5 things to do everyday to be successful

Goals

Are Your Goals Holding You Back? – Dan Shipper

Money

The Power of Association – Robert Kiyosaki => I like the term “motivation killers” 😀

Passion:

Don’t Do It For The Money – do it because you love it. Do it because….

Do You Know?

Why Ideas Pop Into Your Head When You’re Trying to Fall Asleep – No distractions

Health

How to Need Less Sleep by Getting Better Sleep Every Night  – Better Sleep is More Important than More Sleep

Career

Job Titles in the Web Industry – CSS-trick.com

Are we designers or developers?

Go the F**k Home – an interesting post & speech!

If you can’t name two things you’re regularly doing outside of work, you’re spending too much time there.

Programming Is Like Dancing – Dan Shipper : The product isn’t eternal but the moment is. The feeling isn’t lasting but it’s worth chasing.

Why I Left Google

Entrepreneurship

10 Tips for Moving From Programmer to Entrepreneur  – Ian Landsman: Design!! vs Coding

Hackers

How to become a hacker?

Hackers vs. Coders – this not a real ‘hackers’ btw

They’ll be focused on solving user problems, rather than solving implementation problems. They spend more time hacking it and less time coding.

Are You An Expert?

How To Be A Great Developer – Ed Finkler – Poor communication

Learn to Code >> 4 non-coders

The Origins of the <Blink> Tag  – Getta know this when doing my current homepage

Bai tieng Viet:

Thời vắng những nhà văn hoá lớn? – Trần Hữu Dũng

Tuổi 16, ta đã làm được gì? – Dongsongxanh

Bài học kinh nghiệm về hợp pháp hóa mại dâm

Justin Khương: Phong ba bão táp không bằng Start-Up Việt Nam

Không thích đọc tình yêu lm buồn, oán trách kiểu này lắm nhưng hay:

Đàn ông ví mỏng – Trang Ha

“đàn ông kiếm tiền là năng lực và tiêu tiền là văn hóa”

Vì bạn không đủ tư cách để yêu (2) – Trang Ha

“Bởi vì nếu thật sự yêu, người con gái sẽ tự nguyện chờ đợi, vượt qua được những khoảng cách và không gian, mà không cần một lời hứa hẹn ràng buộc nào cả. Tôi tin thế.”

Lý do tui ghét chữ phượt

You must have breakfast!

I’ve seen lots of people skipping breakfast. Of course, they’ve got enough reasonable excuses. “Gotta go to work early, waking up late, too rushed to prepare breakfast” just to name a few. But guys, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So don’t ever ever skip it.

8 Health Reasons You Should Never Skip Breakfast