Almost a year of running

Wow, nearly a year of running and still not getting tired of it. I started my first run at the Men's Health Urbanathon last November 2007 with friend Janine to challenge myself. What made this race different from a normal 10KM race was a series of obstacles one had to complete TWICE in order to finish the race. Failure to do so would mean a penalty of 2-3 minutes added to your personal time. At that time, my girlfriend and I were wondering what the importance of 2-3 minutes were. After all, that is nothing in the overall scheme of things. But Janine blurted out that 2-3 minutes is a BIG THING when it comes to running. "What the hell is wrong with her?", I asked Per. Now, we are eating our words as we realize she is right about that thing (she did have an advantage of running some 5KM races before this one so she knows better). Peace Janine! haha!

I had low expectations and put in goal finish time at 2 hours. I was able to finish the race at a good time of 1 hour and 7 minutes. By that time, I was exhausted, thirsty and dirty from all the running and climbing walls. My legs were in pain for the next two days. And I vow never to run again having completed this challenge. But then Janine mentioned there was a La Salle run the following weekend at Mall of Asia grounds.

"Another Run? Why do it again? Why? Why? Why?", I thought to myself.

Janine said it would be easy as just running on flat course and there will be no obstacles and wouldn't it be nice to get the La Salle singlet as souvenir from our college days? (huh? what the hell's a singlet? oh... a sando. So why not call it a sando?)

So I ended up running that one again.

Fast forward to today and I have joined 20 local races and looking to run a few more. I have reached my target of beating the 1 hour mark for 10k with my fastest time at 58 minutes 33 seconds. I ran a lot of races that exceed the 10KM barrier mark with my farthest at 16KM (La Salle). I ran in the hard rain (La Salle again and Milo) and in the scorching heat (Mizuno 15k and Nike+). I did the very hard Menshealth All Terrain Race in Timberland and Exodus Run in Ultra as roads were very inclined for these two races. I ran in some terrible races where there were no water, not enough marshals, and no finish time and some good races where everything was well organized and lots of free stuffs given out. I ran in a race where there were only 300 participants (Nike+, Dasma) and in a race where there were thousands and thousands of runners (PSE Bull Run, Milo).

Each run is different from the next and that is why I will continue running going forward. I have changed some of my goals as well, now opting to finish a long run via a half-marathon in October and maybe the New Balance 25k run in November.

I am looking to doing a full marathon at least once in my life but will see if that can be attained next year or not. I also hope to do one Asian run aside from kota kinabalu with focus on Singapore or Hong Kong as nearest to Philippines, and therefore the cheapest. Looking to do full Marathon at Singapore so at least that will hit two of my goals: probably the Adidas Night race so it won't be hot but might be hard too as starting at 12 midnight and I could be tired from lack of sleep. I want to experience the Human Race in Singapore should Nike decide to do one again next August. Ultimate Dream race will be the Disneyworld Half Marathon and that one I want to do with Per (she will do 10KM race). That should be fun with mascots everywhere and one can even get a Disney finisher medal.

Almost a year of running now... and already looking at my second, third, fourth, fifth year of running....