Post Rizal Day Run 2012

Disclaimer: I'm typing this from my phone since our WiFi won't work for some reason so expect me to just blab away.

How to describe today's run?

Oh. My. God.

I would normally oppose to using this expression as I don't want to take God's name in vain but for this morning's run, I really cried out to God so many times!!! I prayed the rosary like a bazillion times, too. At the beginning, it helped to make me more focused. This time, I abandoned my earphones and replaced it with prayer and some quiet time. I was praying well until about KM 18 and then as I got more and more tired, it became harder and harder too to focus on my Hail Marys. So I kind of got lost and just let my mind wander - which was also good. I rediscovered the beauty of running without music and just connecting with myself - past, present and future.

Going back to my Hail Marys, I guess it could serve as a metaphor for life. As the race got harder - fatigue was setting in, I was beginning to feel like I wanted to just walk, the sun was out, was also getting hungry, etc. etc. - I got distracted from my prayers and started dwelling on all the aches and pains I was feeling. It became more about me rather than my prayers. Similar to life, when things get hard and there are failures left and right, I sometimes get side tracked and end up letting go of the One thing I never should - my faith. Then life becomes more about myself and less about Him.

Next time I shall practice becoming better at praying while running - even as the KMs rack up.

Overall, it was a good run. Enough water, stations even had instant noodles! I almost gave up but thanks to CA, I pushed on and even if I had to walk the last few KMs, it was still better than not finishing at all. I don't know what I was thinking, making DNF (Did Not Finish) an option.

So, that's how I end my year. By proving to myself that I can achieve great things not because I'm awesome like that but because my God fuels me and He never runs out :)

It's a wonderful feeling ending the year on such a positive and spiritual note - who knew running could bring about that?

Van and I in Starbucks for a quick brekky :)

32KM Jitters

Running 32km tomorrow. Prayers please.  I don't hope to finish first or at a required time - I just hope to finish and not to finish last. So help me God.

Running Blues

So I've registered already for my Unilab 10km and I'm a week away from it.  I'm half excited and half nervous for it, knowing that I HAVE to do better than I did in the Adidas KOTR (1:22).  According to CA, my goal should be 1:15! Gahh, that's 7 minutes that I have to shave off!

I don't really know which is better - to run in the mornings or the afternoons but to me, I've always enjoyed the early morning runs.  I used to run in the mornings last year when I was training for the half marathon.  It was manageable since I was still in the corporate setting, having to get to work at 9 AM.  Now that I'm back in school, with a 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM time, long runs in the morning just seems too impossible - unless I start at 4:00 AM! That would be insane.  Or...hmmm (someone's considering it).

But since I really do prefer running in the morning, I've made it part of my training to run every Friday, 6AM in the gym.  On Fridays, the Husband works from home so it's the driver who brings me to the gym.  I run for about 45 minutes, take a shower at around 6:50 AM and walk to work (it's a 5-minute walk to school).  I did it last week and again this morning.  Nothing like a morning run to keep me energised for the rest of the day! For the past runs, I've been trying to finish a 5km in 35 minutes and so far, it's not happening :( Last Wednesday, my time was 37:57 and this week's Wednesday was 37:28.  Just seconds shaved off.  Today in the gym, I had to finish at 4kms since I had to head to work.  So I did 4kms in 34:45.  Kind of just walked the past 500 meters.

UGH.  I HAVE TO GET FASTERRR.  Will run again on Sunday and Monday.  Hoping for a better 5km then.