Beginning last year, some of my friends have decided to take up running as a sport. My friends from high school, Lauren and Elaine, have been avid runners since last year and have already completed half-marathons (21k). It also looked like they were having loads of fun in training and running the races. Aside from them, I have a few office mates who have also participated in fun runs this year. So I decided to sign up for the Airspeed Runs for A Cause race around Mall of Asia to try it out.

A month prior to this, I’ve already told my gym trainer that I plan to run a 5k race. So she raised the difficulty level of my treadmill routines, and always made me run even after an hour of heavy workout. Heavy workout in my case, as well as with most females who are into weight training, is lifting medium weights with lots and lots of repetitions. During the days where I did not have heavy workouts, I did some high intensity interval training on the elliptical at home, interspersing 30 seconds of full effort cycling with 1 minute easy cycling (recovery) periods. I read that this builds endurance, makes the heart stronger, and is an excellent complement to weight lifting when done during the off days. This was very manageable since the interval training periods lasted for only 20 minutes each, and gave me more energy/enthusiasm for my day.

During the race itself, I was nervous if I could finish well, and so strived to run in a pace I could maintain till the end. And then I planned to just run at a faster pace during the last kilometer or so.

Alas, I failed to study the route map well, and so I was startled when suddenly, after rounding a corner, the finish line was already before me. Only then did I run faster (when I could’ve done it earlier).

So I could say I did finish well for a first timer - my official time was 32 mins. and 27 secs. (6min and 29 secs. per km), 25th among 255 females and probably the 130th out of all the 571 runners. But as I was cooling down I couldn’t help but regret that I didn’t really run my best. Simply because I didn’t study the route map, and didn’t take note of the distance markers along the road. I would’ve noticed the markers, I guess, had I not been chatting with a fellow runner (who was doing the 10k) during the 3rd and/or 4th km. I decided to engage in friendly conversation, thinking that the finish line was still far ahead, and thinking that chatting would help me “forget” the distance.

My booboos, as well as the general good feeling of finishing, are giving me extra motivation to keep training for and running these races. So for now, my goal is just to find my best speed for the 5k.

And of course, to have fun

Thanks also to my husband Dex who accompanied me to the event, even though he didn’t run. He was there as my cheering squad. He he








By the way, I’ve decided to create a list to track my progress, much like Lauren’s, so I’ll be posting that after my 2nd run.

And also, I can readily say now that my decision to keep taking my fitness seriously is not motivated by a desire to be sexier or thinner (even though those are also good goals). At this point, I don’t think I’ll be losing any more weight, or getting any thinner - my body is not the really the lean type. There’s just a good feeling one gets from seeing improvements in oneself, and in one’s health. For instance, I started out with my shoulder presses at 5 pounds per arm, and 20 repetitions would already tire me out. But now I could easily handle 10 pounds per arm, and not yet tire out after 40 repetitions (alternating with other shoulder exercises, at that). I also sleep better at night, even though I get 6 hours of sleep in a day at most. Last but not the least, I can eat all the Crispy Pata I want without worrying that I’ll be bogged down by the excess fat the next day, because I’ll be burning it up.

I’m looking forward to my training for the runs. Running is now a big motivation for me to be better in my workouts.

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Tags: running,race,5k,ria osorio,Airspeed Run