June 7, 2009
…. because flu got the best of me.
I knew as early as Friday noon that something was not quite right. By Friday night I was having chills and by Saturday morning I was a total wreck.
Saturday afternoon I knew Mizuno was not going to happen.
I was looking forward to debuting my I Am Ninoy Runers shirt and meeting other runners. And apparently the organizers had this nice little gimmik which OF COURSE I missed.
Howell. There goes my finisher’s shirt. And my 300 bucks.
June 4, 2009
Or at least, in spirit. I got my new I Am Ninoy Runners shirt at last. Whee! I can’t wait to debut it at the Mizuno Infinity Run on Sunday. If you see a short and short-haired girl running along and sporting an I Am Ninoy shirt, say hi! I chickened out and signed up for the 5K instead of the 10. (My legs will thank me for this wise decision!) I signed up at at the absolute last minute too. I got the last 5K slot. So sorry folks! if you were planning to run the 5K, there are no more slots available. But check again, as they might actually open for late registrants.
Sign up to be part of the I am Ninoy Runners and grab your shirts at the Rudy Project store at Bonifacio High Street. See ya at the Mizuno Infinity Run!
June 2, 2009
I’m a bit hesitant to run in the rain these days. Aside from safety concerns, I’m also wary about getting sick.What I want to know is, can running in the rain really make you sick?
Where else do we turn to when faced with such mysteries of the universe? Where else do we search for answers to life’s greatest questions?
Saan pa kung hindi Google.
And Wikipedia.
According to WikiAnswers
Most sicknesses are viral and not caused by rain or going outside without a coat. If you are already sick it could make it worse but not necessarily cause you to become sick.
So there, rain per se does not make us sick as rain does not necessarily contain viruses, which are the ones that do make us sick.
However,
Water lowers a person’s core temperature, so if you stand out in the rain for a while, your body will likely cool down… Now, here is where the myth comes into play: if you stand in the rain for a sufficient amount of time (or snow, or sleet, of hail. Any type of precipitation, really.) your body temperature will be lowered below normal, and when your temp drops below normal, it becomes easier for viruses and bacteria to attack.
I therefore conclude that, no, the rain itself does not make us sick, but yes, the rain CAN make us sick, as prolonged exposure to it will lower our body temperature and make us more prone to viruses and bacteria, which in turn can trigger illness.
Beijing Marathon Gold Medalist Sammy Wanjiru doesn’t run when it rains. But then he’s an Olympic Gold Medalist so he’s probably not human either.
June 1, 2009
… I am not. These days, when I get home from work I just want to lie down and sleep til kingdom come. I get these occasional bursts of energy which pan out at the worst times, as when I’m preparing a report or when I need to head off to ULTRA to run. I’m perpetually ready for a nap and that can’t possibly be normal. I don’t know whether it’s stress, or lack of sleep, or my diet.
I’ve a feeling it’s my diet.
So, I’ve taken it upon myself to make a few changes here and there. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve stocked up on oatmeal, cereal, fruits, almonds, whole-grain breads and dark chocolate. My plan is to alter my regular breakfast habits ( I eat at McDonald’s every single day, as in EVERY SINGLE DAY I kid you not. Usually it’s their two piece pancake with sausage. Or sometimes it’s their longganisa meal, then I finish with an apple pie. Heaven help me!) and then space out snacks consisting of yogurt or fruits throughout the day. To get my butt from point A (otherwise known as my bed) to point B (ULTRA), I’ll munch on whole-wheat bread and peanut butter and bananas an hour or thirty minutes before.
I hope to god those little things do the trick. Plus of course I’ll have to double up my water intake and try to get more sleep. I had a hard time sleeping last night. The stray cats outside were making these weird noises and if I weren’t so tired (of course) I’d have gone out to shoo them and tell them to take their business somewhere else.
Check out these sites for more energy boosting foods:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_5_19/ai_100545121/
May 30, 2009
Since my last post, I mean.
NOT since I last ran.
I HAVE been running, just a little more intermittently now than I would like. In a span of a month, I:
1) Joined I Am Ninoy Runners. Also got the chance to attend the MOU signing between I am Ninoy Runners and 57-75, an education reform initiative. My boss, who knows I’m sortofsomewhat into running, is one of the convenors of 57-75 so he invited me to attend. (Met The Bull Runner and Prometheus Cometh. Nice seeing you again Marga!)
2) Ran an 8K (ULTRA- Rodriguez Lanuza Lane- Ortigas Ave-Temple Drive-EDSA and back. The longest distance I’ve ever covered. Not impressive mwahaha but still)
3) Tried on Nike’s Zoom Vomero during a Nike Running Clinic session. (Offhand impression: It’s lighter than my Mizunos. Must check that out when I reward myself with new shoes, which I plan to do AFTER I run my first 10K)
4) Wrote an article on running for SIP Magazine, a free magazine distributed in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. (“An article on running?” you say. “Aba! How dare this girl write about running!” Howell. I just wrote about how it was for me when I first started running. And my friend happens to own the said magazine. Do check it out, the front cover’s KC Concepcion.
On a side note, I, Mia, hereby promise to blog more regularly, and to dutifully record everything that has to do with my training. Signed, this day May 30 2009.
April 24, 2009
I’m not even IN pain, I AM pain.
The pain is mostly concentrated on my lower legs, so I might be undergoing what they call “shin splints,” a relatively common condition for beginner runners. If that’s the case then my legs have betrayed me. Shouldn’t I be over the pain part by now? I’ve been doing 5Ks and just last Sunday I managed to pull off a 10K! Alive! And now my legs go and let me down. Tsk tsk.
So it’s either these aren’t shin splints or there’s something wrong with my form that’s causing chronic leg pain.
Either way, I’ve resorted to taking a painkiller, which I hardly ever do, unless the situation calls for it. And judging from the fact that I have been uttering every expletive known to man the whole night, then I suppose the situation does call for it.
April 19, 2009
The onslaught of rain did not start until ten minutes into the running.
Coach Roel and I had gotten out of ULTRA and had just started making our way across Rodriguez Lanuza Ave. What was the sense in going back? A little while later, several taxis slowed down beside us. I suppose they thought they looked so tempting.
I was acutely aware that I was drenched to the core. My shirt clung onto my skin and I could feel the water seeping onto my shoes and making a squishy sound. “Eeeewww!” Coach Roel would go once in a while, in an earnest but really quite unnecessary attempt to mock me. “Eeeewww!” I would reply, only half joking.
I’d made several stops but this was definitely not like the first day of the 10k training when I barely made it to the start of Temple Drive. It was the rain of course, and the fact that it wasn’t as hot as the previous days. I much prefer running in the rain than running with the sun bearing down on me. We made it all the way to the end of Temple Drive, past the Church of the Latter Day Saints, just like I promised Coach we would.
May I just say, the feeling was nothing short of exhilarating.There we were, drenched to the bone, and I was just exhilarated.
An uncle of mine even saw me! I mean, really what are the chances? (It was at that point where I nearly fell onto the paved sidewalk).
By the time we got back to ULTRA, the rain had let up a bit.
When I got home, my parents were having dinner. “Anong nangyari sa yo?!“
“Tumakbo ako sa ulan!”
And they shook their heads and rolled their eyes.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Route: From ULTRA to Rodriguez Lanuza lane, past the Ortigas Avenue intersection and finally to Temple Drive, past the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Then all the way back again to ULTRA.
Time: 1 hour 19 minutes (counting the time we had to buy water in Rustan’s Supermarket along Temple Drive )
April 12, 2009
1. I only reached 8k. I am mildly disappointed, to say the least. That’s as far as I got before Coach Roel finally decided to let me live another day. By the 7th kilometer, I was already feeling pain in parts of my body I didn’t even know existed. For the first time, FIRST time, my mind and body were in sync and they were telling me to stop. I wanted to run a full 10k but Coach Roel, prudently and wisely, decided it might not be such a good idea. By the time we were rounding up that steep uphill climb back to ULTRA, he was practically dragging my ass.
2. Speaking of ass, my ass is apparently getting bigger. Where oh where is the justice in that? True, I still stuff my face with Tostitos (the one with a hint of lime) but I have also been pulling 5ks at least thrice a week. Not only did I gain weight, but all that weight has so conveniently settled on my butt. It’s only been four days since I last saw Coach and already he noticed my weight gain. And this over the Holy Week, when people were supposed to be fasting and shedding pounds faster than you can say Amen!
3. Just four days of no running and Coach and I both notice the difference it made in my running. He told me I should’ve jogged for at least 30 minutes, twice. I WAS about to protest and say there aren’t any jogging places in where we’d stayed during the Holy Week break but I knew he was right. I hereby resolve not to miss any more training days. Unless it’s a) an emergency or b) Bono and U2 come to town.
The next training, Coach won’t be as forgiving. And neither will I.
April 5, 2009
I ask because my officemate made a comment about it. “You run?’ she asks in this incredulous voice. “You don’t look like a runner!”
We were standing by the elevators, waiting for one to open and take us down. Apparently, she’d found out from others that I’d been joining races and I’ve been training in ULTRA. I admit I wasn’t too thrilled upon hearing that. Was it my tummy that gave me away? I knew I shouldn’t have had that last donut, dammit. Maybe my flabby arms? My legs? I’m not exactly sporting toned, muscled legs yet although they’re starting to build mass. Even our househelp actually called them “malaman,” bless her heart.
Officemate then goes on to say “Wow I wonder how you look like when you run!”
Before I had any chance to open my big mouth to tell her just what I think of her little question, the elevator opens and we get lost among other people scrambling to get in.
I spent a few minutes nursing a bruised ego. I know I ain’t no Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, but I think I’ve come pretty far from those days when my endurance and stamina levels were down to a big fat zero. I suppose, in my heart of hearts, I WAS hoping I would have at least stopped looking so goddamn sissy.
Then I realized, well, I AM kind of sissy. Haha. I can’t do even one of those “manly” pushups anymore and when I’m tired of running I walk. Oh well. Besides, I’ve only been running seriously for two or three months anyway. I can’t expect to look like a “runner,” whatever that means, just yet. I don’t “look” like a lot of things, anyway, but that’s a topic for another time.
April 4, 2009
