Eat, Pray, Run

This is great. Got this from my DM friend Cleo.

1. Don’t be a whiner. Nobody likes a whiner, not even other whiners.
2. Don’t make running your life, make it part of your life.
3. When doing group runs, start on time no matter who is missing.
4. Don’t compare yourself to other runners.
5. When standing in starting lines, remind yourself how fortunate you are to be there.
6. The faster you are the less you should talk about your times.
7. Don’t always run alone.
8. Don’t always run with people.
9. The best run sometimes come on the days you didn’t feel like running.
10. Be modest after a race, especially if you have reason to brag.
11. All runners are equal; some are just faster than others.
12. There are no shortcuts to run excellence.
13. There is nothing boring about running, there are, however, boring people who run.
14. Look at hills as opportunities to pass people.
15. Don’t try to out run dogs.
16. Without goals, training has no purpose.
17. Go for broke, but prepare to be broken.
18. Unless you make your living as a runner, don’t take running too seriously.
19. Runners who never fail are runners who never tried anything great.
20. Running is simple. Don’t make it complicated.

I must say sometimes I’m guilty of #4, and #13 made me laugh.

So yesterday I was supposed to do my first long run, but I wasn’t able to do it because of a bunch of excuses. I think weekend afternoons are really not for me. For one thing, afternoons here have gotten rainy — which makes me want to just have coffee, eat, and watch TV. For another thing, I’m more lazy in the afternoon.

And this is why I did my long run today (which isn’t really long, I’m almost ashamed to admit). Actually, I just focused on running a relaxed, steady pace for 45 minutes. Later on I found out I ran 5.61 km. Ooh, maybe if I keep increasing my distance I’ll be able to run a 10K in December! :)

My mid-term goal: run a half-marathon by the end of 2011.

My long-term goal: run a full marathon by 2013.

Just typing that gave me chills. Can I do it?? Are these impossible dreams??

I didn’t log in too many miles this week. :( I was planning to start doing long runs today — earlier this afternoon. But then it rained and I used it as an excuse. I’ve never been able to find the motivation to run on weekend afternoons. There’s always something more fun to do, like talk to my sisters, get a pedicure, buy groceries, watch a movie. The list is endless. So I guess I’ll have to start tomorrow morning.

Oh, and the highlight of my week was being told by my mother and a coworker that I’ve gotten a bit darker. Upon scrutiny, I have gotten a shade darker. And I’m starting to get tan lines on my legs too, thanks to my shorts. Love it.

One comment that’s getting annoying and quite unwelcome is being told, “Why do you run? You’re getting too thin!” I know I don’t eat as healthily as I should (blame it on my 1 - 10 pm work schedule), but I’m not anorexic. Wonder what kind of comments about your running irritate you guys?

I was supposed to run in UP this afternoon with some people at the office, but it started raining about 15 minutes before I was supposed to go out so I decided against going out. I had planned to bring Miguel (my son) with me so he could run around and play with other kids, and now I couldn’t because the play area would be wet.

I decided to run around the neighborhood instead after the rain. I had missed a run yesterday because I stayed up all night watching the last 2 episodes of Glee (which I’m going to miss soooo much), so I couldn’t afford to miss another run. My niece decided to come with me and while waiting for her to get ready I had 2 slices of frozen mango cake. I couldn’t resist!

My niece ran/walked with me the first 20 minutes (about 2.7 km) then she went home and I ran the rest of the 5 km. Done in 36 minutes. Life is good.

When my alarm rang this morning, I didn’t have much time to think about whether or not I will run. I hadn’t run since Monday so I knew that I had to run today, and I had to run early because I should leave the house at 8 am.

I ran about 4.5 km in 31 minutes today… I think. I didn’t do the usual laps around the neighborhood because I saw an unleashed dog (again!!!) at the end of the street. So I had to make do with running up and down the dog-less streets. I couldn’t remember my route anymore while I was mapping it but I think I did about 4.5 km.

Towards the end of my run, I noticed a stray trotting beside me like it was the most natural thing in the world. I think it’s looking for a new master!

I decided that there’ll be no running today as it’s my son’s first day back at school. I woke up early and helped him get ready.

The ID photo on the left is the more recent one, while the one on the right was taken last year. He’s looking less like the baby I had almost 5 years ago! Bittersweet.

So yesterday I ran laps around the village and was able to do 5 km a wee bit faster (about a minute) than last Friday.

The interesting part of the run was encountering 5 dogs along the way. The first 3 were fine and didn’t mind me as I passed by. I did make sure to cross to the other side though. When I saw the next one, I again tried to avoid it and for a moment I thought it was going to go at me then I realized it just wanted to go by me (what a difference a preposition makes). A friend told me I shouldn’t look at a dog in the eye because they interpret that as a sign of aggression and thus might provoke them to attack. But I can’t help it! I can’t not look while I’m running because I need to know if they’re the friendly or unfriendly kind.

Tomorrow I will run the same route and I hope those dogs will be leashed then! It looks like it’s going to rain tonight so I hope that cools down the roads.

It was much less humid when I woke up this morning. However, I had to again fight the laziness that always tempts me to stay in bed. I won, of course.

I ran 5 km in 37 minutes today - woot! I felt that I could keep going but didn’t want to push it. I want ease my body into accepting that this running habit is here to stay. The only thing that was hard (literally) was running on the concrete streets of our village. With each step I could feel my knees taking on the pounding.

Have a great Friday, people! Group hug? :)

It’s still crazy humid in the morning even though the rainy season is supposed to have started. Whenever I wake up on the morning of a scheduled run, I keep wishing for a cloudy day.

This morning, I woke up feeling really lazy. I could’ve come up with 20 reasons not to run, but at some point I simply got up and got dressed. I knew I wouldn’t ever regret it anyway. Surprisingly, I had one of my best runs. I ran almost 5 km in about 36 minutes and I felt great! During the run, there were countless times when I wanted to just stop and walk but I kept looking for one tiny goal after another (just until the next block, just until that red car, etc.) until I had run for at least 35 minutes.

Moral of the story: keep pushing. At some point, something’s got to give!

I tried running in UP this morning. I’d planned it weeks ago with my friend, and last night my niece said she wanted to come along. We got there at around 7 am and there were already a lot of runners doing their thing. The UP Academic Oval is about 2.2 km, and we hadn’t even completed one loop when my niece said that she’s already tired. She’s only 11 and I didn’t want to leave her behind, so there went my morning run. :/ I was able to do only 1.8 km in 12 minutes. What!? Oh well, there’s always Monday…

When we got home, I showered then did some shopping for running clothes - like a pat on the back for my first 5K and for having continuously run during the race. Any excuse to go shopping will do!

Got a singlet and a pair of shorts from Nike (just because I’d like to compare it to my Adidas stuff :)). I love the shorts, but I’m not digging the absence of an inside pocket. I hope they take a cue from Adidas and start putting one in.