Pregnancy Pilates, Things I Learned From Running the UNICEF 10K Race and Paul Frank's Lip Smackers

Toning Up Mum

I had an email the other day from a reader looking for pregnancy Pilates. The center recommended by her doctor was asking for an eye-watering $980 per session so she decided to cast around for something a little less ritzy. A bit of frenetic Googling took me to A Mother’s Touch, a company that organizes all kinds of pregnancy, birth and early childhood workshops and operates out of the White Lotus Centre, a complementary health center on Lyndhurst Terrace. In addition to offering just about every kind of pregnancy and baby-related class you can think of (infant massage, antenatal classes and everything in between), it also offers group prenatal Pilates classes every Friday at noon. Run by Pilates instructor Jill Marshall (pictured), the classes have space for about four to six people, and prepare your body and posture for the extra weight that comes as the baby grows, the birth itself and also keeping your muscles strong so that you can more easily return to your pre-baby shape after the event—there's plenty of pelvic floor work, too. Jill tells me that the classes are intimate, friendly, very relaxed and tailored to the individual needs of every participant. There's also a postnatal class on Fridays at 11am, and a mother and baby class at 1pm. The one-off price is $250, or you can buy a package of eight for $1,850.
White Lotus Centre, 20/F, 18-20 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, 9769-2701, www.amotherstouch.com.hk. You can also find more information on classes run by Jill at jillmarshallpilates.com.

Things I Learned From Running the UNICEF 10K Race

• Even if it’s raining, don’t try and run in a plastic poncho. It just looks stupid.
• Overtaking people is awesome. You will mentally scream “In your FACE! In your FACE!” as you do it.
• Being overtaken by people sucks, particularly if their running style is bizarre and inefficient and yet they are still somehow faster than you.
• Murphy’s MP3 Law states that only your least-motivating running songs will appear on shuffle on race day. LMFAO, where were you when I needed you!?
• One way of making your run more fun is to make motivational hand gestures as you run past the volunteers standing on the sidelines, and seeing if you can get them to personally cheer for you.
• The Disneyland Express is not a whimsical place to be when it’s crammed full of post-run commuters heading back to Central.

My time? One hour, five minutes,44 seconds. Not bad for a first-timer!

Give It Some Lip

I’m ever so slightly ashamed to admit this, but I can’t fight it anymore. My name is Sarah Fung and I have the same taste in lip gloss as a 12-year-old girl. Yes, for all the organic this and high-end that I receive, my fave lip treatment of the moment is the Lip Smackers collaboration with Paul Frank—yes, he of cartoon monkey fame. I received their “Bag in the Box” collection ($160) the other day, and while a single whiff of the “sweet sugar berry” and “lollipop hearts” flavored glosses would induce a diabetic coma in an Oompa Loompa, the regular balms—which taste of amaretto biscotti and angel food cake—are actually rather addictive. I’m also enamored with the cute bag, truth be told. Perhaps my peculiar fondness is a throwback to my school days, growing up in Hong Kong in the 90s, when the ever-coveted Lip Smackers (not available here at the time) were regarded as rare and precious as bananas were in Elizabethan England. Anyway, if you have a pre-teen to buy Christmas presents for (or have a weird thing for crazy lip balms), you could do worse.
Various gift sets available from Sasa outlets citywide.

Email me at sfung@asia-city.com.hk, or follow me on Twitter: @sarahefung.