Tag Archives: running

Dear Diary, In His Steps

I will run this race

So. The Rexona Run was my secnd 10k run, and I wanted to be ready. My brother, his girlfriend and I registered early and I have been training for it for it ever since we registered. I know I can run 10k, but I wanted to at least try beat my personal record of 1:17:16.

Thing is, about two weeks before the run, I had a bout of asthma. Wait, change that — not a simple bout, but an almost week-long asthma that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run properly. I couldn’t even try to run on the treadmill without running after my breath. Ahh it was so frustrating.

But still. The run was actually…good.

So! In bullets!

  • For the first time, we were actually early for the race. We arrived at the MOA grounds just before the 21k runners left, so there was plenty of time to warm up and prepare for our gun start.
  • I noticed that there were more 10k runners this time. I figure those who started out with 5k are now running 10k now, like me.
  • My Nike+ didn’t start properly as the race started, so there the data is kind of inaccurate. I think I need to calibrate it once again. The time is 2 minutes off, but I ran farther? Unless it’s really not 10k? Or something. I like how my graph looked, though:
  • If you’re wondering why that’s so squiggly, I decided to follow my brother’s strategy: to just run at a certain pace and slow down every now and then, but not really slow down. I have a feeling that every time the graph dips it’s a water station. I slow down there because (1) I don’t want to slip and (2) I had to get a drink. By the fourth water station though, I had to skip it because I felt that I needed to pee. And we know what happens when I run and I need to pee. :o It’s a good thing I skipped because the only portalets were at the end of the race.
  • Longest last stretch ever. When I saw the last 1km mark, I was excited and I thought I could run the entire kilometer already. But when I turned to the street, I realized that the finish line was so far away! :( I only ran again after there was about 200 meters left, after a college friend called out my name.
  • I love the quotes at each marker — funny and inspiring at the same time. I think this post summarizes that well.
  • But I have the most unglamorous running shots. I should learn how to project when it comes to running photos. This may be the best shot I have among the photos:

    Well look who loves running.
  • Official time: 1:15:12. That’s two minutes off my first 10k, friend. I just broke my personal record (and raised my muscle mass without noxycut — I haven’t been lifting weights, but my muscles went up after the run).

One last, but I won’t put it in bullets: I just found the best running play list ever, at least for me. I discovered it one time while I was running on the treadmill. Break Free by Hillsong United played, I suddenly felt energized. It’s been a while since I last listened to them, and I realized that if there was any song that I needed to listen to when I run, it’s got to be about the One who’s made me run. The One who made this body to run. Who am I running for, anyway?

I think that was what made this race better than the previous one: I spent almost the entire run in prayer. The songs helped, and I even broke into song every now and then while I was running. There was this lightness in my heart, a voice inside me that tells me I can do it, and tells me that He is pleased with me. It was almost like a mountain-top experience, and I loved that I got to talk to God for almost a whole hour. Running can be a spiritual experience, and I proved that during the last run.

So will I run again? Of course. I’m planning to just keep doing 10k (and maybe 15k once) for the rest of the year and then maybe, maybe break into 21k by next year. I just need to make sure I’m conditioned for that length.

Yeah, I will keep running this race, these races. Thank You Lord for giving me running so I can see Your glory. :)

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary

At the 8K Mark

[Cross-posted from my Tumblr]

The 8K Mark

Believe deep down in your heart that you are destined to do great things.

If you have told me that I would be running 10 kilometer races last year, I would have laughed. I was never the sporty kid, and the only way I lost all the extra weight I had was because of gym time and exercise. I never liked sports.

Then I decided to try something new this year, and running races was one of them. I thought I’d be doing 5k until the end of the year, but after an impulsive moment, I started doing 10k and never looked back.

Of course, I have only ran 4 times this year, so I can’t say that I am a great runner. I can’t say that running loves me, but I think I am starting to love running (even if my legs and knees tell me otherwise, especially post run).

Today I broke my first personal record for my 10k race. Official results will be out in the next few days are out, and my time is: 1:15:12. That’s about two minutes less than my first real 10k! The idea that I was able to run better, faster this time (despite having only 2 hours of sleep — don’t do this, kids!) is enough to make me giddy. :)

And it helped a lot that I made sure to pray while running the race. :) Awesome God, indeed.

Now my 2 hours of sleep are catching up — I’ve been awake for almost 20 hours already. Till the next run! (Adidas King of the Road, October 24! Who wants to come with? :P)

* * *

Proper race post to follow in the next few days, after the PhotoVendo pics go up so I have actual running pictures! :) Right now I better get ready for work, and put some moisturizer on my hands because its strangely dry, and I don’t want that to end up as eczema.

Have a great week everyone. :)

Dear Diary

The Positives (1)

Sooooo, I realize I’ve been posting slightly depressing posts lately. Not good, not good. Let’s try being positive this time.

In one of the journals I kept back in high school, I try to end each entry with a list of things I was happy about in the day. It helped me put things in perspective, and be thankful of the blessings that I get even if the day was bad. Of course, I eventually got tired of listing things because I didn’t have the time, and sometimes, I admit it’s easier to just wallow and be sad and all that. But I can’t deny the positivity that it brings when I try to recall all my blessings.

So I think I’ll make this a weekly thing, as a pick-me-up post. I figure we all need to find something to be thankful for, right?

Okay, bring on the positives!

  1. I ran 5k today. I usually try to run at least 5k every time I try to run, but I don’t always get to do it. Stress on the legs, side stitch, and all other excuses. But today, I was about to give up at 3k when I got my second wind and ran a full 5k. :) I love it. My time: 32:30. My fastest 5k yet. (Its on the treadmill, but still :p)
  2. My call last night got moved tomorrow. I was supposed to have a client call last night and I was all nerves. Around 10 minutes before the call, my client sent me a message and moved the call tomorrow. I was kind of miffed, but then I realize this means I have more time to prepare, and my boss would be with me during the call. So yay.
  3. I got paid by some of my hostees. Money is kind of tight this month, so payments from my hostees were definitely welcome.
  4. I got to attend a meeting at EDSA Shangrila earlier. Our company had this meeting at EDSA Shang earlier, and I was privileged enough to attend. While I kind of reeled with all the financial talk, I was happy to be a part of that and see how blessed I am to be where I am working. Oh, and free food is always a plus.
  5. Fully Booked was extremely helpful to me. I heard that one of the books I’ve been drooling over is already available here, so I was planning to drop by Fully Booked at Shang to get it. However I didn’t get the chance to, so I called them and was directed to the Fort branch. I called, and managed to get the last two copies of the book and have it sent to the branch near my office. :) This means I will finally have a copy of that book, and I can host a giveaway at my book blog!
  6. I dressed up today. Since I had a meeting at Shang earlier, I needed to dress up, so I wore this new black dress I got from Cache Cache. I love dressing up to work nowadays, and it was really nice to get so many compliments at how different I look. :)
  7. My new shift gives me time to sleep in and stay at home. I’m on a 4pm to 1am shift right now, and it’s been a while since I stayed this late at work. I was complaining about it last week, but I realized, this gives me more reasons to sleep in.
  8. It didn’t rain today. Rain is good, but I still kind of freak out about the rain. I’ll get there. I know I will.
  9. This picture makes me smile (via loveyourchaos):
  10. I’m taking my first steps to grad school: asking around. Target: January 2011. Pray for me?

Now that wasn’t so bad? Even if my discount shades broke today (huhu, bye shades from Human), this day wasn’t so bad. Maybe I just really need to focus on the good things, you know? Optimism and all that — I miss being positive. Life shouldn’t get me too down to be positive.

What about you? What are your positives today? :)

Dear Diary

From 5k to 10k

I must be crazy.

So I’ve started running, right? I’ve been planning to join another race since I joined the first one, but all other races that came and went and I haven’t joined any of them. Unilab Wellness? I wanted to, but it was too soon after Century Tuna. Globe Run For Home? Oh I wanted that, too, but March was a busy month. I had finally resigned to the fact that my next race would be on the second leg of the RunRio Trilogy, and that’s at May.

But then a friend invited us to join the Earth Run on April, and since I just wanted to run again, I said yes. Then we decided to join the National Geographic Earth Day Run instead, and so yeah, whichever, let’s join.

Plans were put on hold, because everyone was busy. One day while I was at the gym, I saw a curious black and yellow shirt and realized that it was actually the official shirt for the NatGeo Run on April 18th. Pretty.

Official Technical Shirt
Image from Pinayads.com

My brother and I decided to sign up, me for 5k and him for 10k. We went to the Nike store in Bonifacio High Street to register, but alas, no 5k shirts. Turns out the black shirt is for the 10k and 3k and 5k has the gray shirt. Black is prettier, don’t you think? But even if I wanted black, I can’t possibly run 10k. Not after just running one 5k race, right?

So anyway, my brother and I didn’t get to register that Sunday, so he trekked to Timex is in SM North on Monday to get us registered since they said that shirt sizes will be shipped by then. However, when he got there, there were still no 5k shirts! :(

That posed a dilemma. Either we register then, or not. Or just get a large shirt. But then again, one of the perks of paying the race fee is to get the shirt, which has pretty nice material — perfect to use for work outs. I had to decide fast, because my brother was waiting for my decision if I would find someone to register for me, or join him in 10k, so I could get registered and get a shirt.

Can you guess what I did?

But wait, before you guess, I guess I have to mention that there’s no timing chip for this race. The focus of the race is not the running, but the cause, which is for the Earth, since it’s an Earth Day Run. The proceeds of the race will go to Design Against the Elements (DAtE) which aims to help fight climate change, especially after the devastating effects of Typhoon Ondoy last year. We all know how this is close to my heart, right? Even if I do wish to run and beat my first record, I think it would be better to run and think of the cause this time around because it’s really something important. So my registration fee isn’t really going to a number of organizations that I don’t even know about — it’s going to be something that would help save us from the effects of climate change. I can’t be like Richard Willich, but I can still do something to help the environment.

So can you guess what I did now?

Continue reading From 5k to 10k →

Dear Diary

Run, run, run!

February 21, 2010 marked the fulfillment of one of my declarations for 2010: I will run at least 5k in a marathon this year. Yep, I’m one of the 11,000+ people who joined the Century Tuna Superbods Run at Fort Bonifacio Global City.

I have to make it clear, though: 5k is not a marathon, so I should change that word. But it sounds cooler and more impressive…right? Then again, who’s impressing who?

But anyway. Last Sunday, some of my friends and I joined this humongous event, as seen in the photo above (that was actually after the run already). Originally, it was only me, Toni and Noel who was supposed to go there, but Gel joined in a few weeks later. I was kind of nervous about the race, especially the day before (when the four of us were also together to watch Rent) because I didn’t know what to expect. True, I’ve been practicing on the treadmill a lot, and once at the UP Oval, and I knew I could do 5k easily (or not so easily, but you know what I mean), but I still couldn’t help but feel the jitters. What if something happens, you know?

I shouldn’t have worried, really, because the race went by smoothly, at least for me. I didn’t have much expectations since it was my first race ever, plus I wasn’t really running to win or to beat a specific time — I was running to have some kind of record to break, eventually.

So there. It was a fun race, but there were so. many. racers. In 5k, specifically, which I heard were about 4,000 runners all in all? Wow. I was already on my way back when I saw some people still on their way at the half of the 5k route — man that’s a lot of runners. It was also kind of hard to really run because there were so many people around. It was kind of funny being at the start line at the gun start: everyone were just jogging up and down in their place until the person in front of them finally moved. Heh.

Sometime in the middle of the race, I started feeling some fatigue in my legs. That’s when I slowed down and just let people run by me. However, by the time I started running, the people in front of me were now walking, so hello elbows and cutting and all that!

I also wanted to have a “running finish”, but everyone in front of me were walking already so I walked too. I could have had a shorter time if I managed to run there…but I don’t mind.

All in all, I finished 5k in 43:50, according to the race results at the website. It’s not so bad, since I clocked around 39:27 at the treadmill when I tried 5k for the first time. At least I’m under 50 minutes, and I now have a personal record to beat. :D

And my overall ranking isn’t so shabby either: I’m #550 for the Female Division for 5k (out of 1711 runners) and #1729 for the overall 5k (out of 3706 runners). I’m still in the upper half, so it isn’t so bad. :)

Will I run again? Yes, I definitely will. I don’t know if I’ll really take this thing seriously, and invest in shoes and other stuff, but I will definitely join another race again. :) It’s fun, and it’s another way to exercise and be healthy (which reduces stress and hair loss), plus it’s a great experience. :D Who knows, I may be able to run 10k by the end of the year. :P I’m not closing any doors on that.

Oh and the best part about Sunday?

Wohoo!

Oh yeah. I’ll definitely run again. :P