The Reluctant Runner

I'm creating this blog just to record how I'm getting back into running, whether I'd be any good at it and whether I can continue to sustain this for the rest of my life!  Mostly, I need to write this down so I can push myself, even when there are days that I just don't want to get up and run (yes, there are still a lot of those days)....you see, I'm still a reluctant runner - excited by the idea, poring voraciously over anything related to improving my run, learning the lingo, and yet still not 100% in love with it....not yet.

The main reason I run is to lose weight...yeah, yeah, ain't that the reason most of us start any sort of physical activity?  I haven't hit the scale below 140 lbs in about 4 years, even after endless diets and failed attempts at exercise.  I hate getting dressed, I can spend about an hour in front of my closet looking at clothes that don't fit well and sometimes end up throwing a fit, not wanting to leave home because nothing....well....fits.  Another reason for the sudden attempt at fitness was an invitation to join an organized reunion climb of Batch '93 of the Ayala Mountaineering Club.  They will be climbing Mt. Pulag (which is the 2nd highest mountain peak in the Philippines) this May.  I haven't been actively hiking up mountains since '95, so do the math, haha!  Well, lets just say I am not hiking up any mountain unless I'm fit enough to do so and if memory serves me right, we used to train for climbs by running, climbing up flights of stairs (I even used to bring my pack with me and climb up and down the 19 flights of stairs in the office building I used to work in).  Even after my hiking heydays, I used to run for an hour every other day just to maintain my level of fitness because who knows, I might chance upon a mountain to hike on.  Not only did I use to be a mountaineer, I also got into Dragonboat rowing with the PDRT and was privileged to compete in Hong Kong and Taipei with the team.  Well, those were the days...

Zoom to today, the reason I try to remember those times is remind myself I can still do it.  If I could have the discipline of being out in Manila Bay at 5:00 in the morning, rowing until my heart is ready to burst...hiking up Mt. Giting-Giting and climbing over razor edged peaks....then maybe, that strong, determined girl//woman is still in me and I just need to coax her out of her 15 year sleep.  Hard but doable.  Yes doable. 

Remind me of this when I won't get up to run, when I complain my heart will burst, my breathing labored and my head in a spin.

"Kaya mo yan!"