It's official...

7.58pm... 7.59pm... 8.00pm - CLICK!

The registration for the 2014 Ironman Malaysia opened on Thursday morning 9am - Malaysia time. Though I didn't think that the race will sell out within minutes but as I have already booked my long flight home and local flights to Langkawi, I was not going to take the risk!

I completed my entry under 5 minutes - having a pre existing Active.com account saved me from filling in all my personal details. No confirmation as to who was the first to sign up but I'm pretty sure I'm amongst the first few - as I can't win the race, I might as well try to beat the rest to signing up right? I was literally shaking after my registration was confirmed. And this would be 8th Ironman race - which shows how excited I am to be racing at home with the Malaysian triathlon family! And getting spoiled by mum and dad as my supporters on race day :)

I've been slowly getting back into a routine of training regularly. The recent switchback of daylight savings meant that it gets darker quicker after work. And temperatures are dropping quickly too. Which means most of my workouts now are kept indoors - on the treadmill, on the trainer, in the pool. I'm not too worried as the race is more than 10 months away. The key goal for these few winter months is to keep fit and to work on my speed by including short but high intensity workouts. This will help me get stronger and faster when Ironman training hits full swing beginning of Spring.

For those still pondering on whether to sign up or not, don't take too long. Rumour has it that the participant limit is capped to 1,000 and being the cheapest Ironman race on the calendar - both in terms of entry fee and the local cost of accommodation, transport and food etc., I'm willing to bet that it will sell out soon.

See you at the start line!