It's OK

Yes I'm indecisive, but this time around I think I'm pretty sure about it.

I'm pulling out of the SCKLM. I might be there just to accompany my dad in case my cousins aren't running, but I'd prefer if I do my own thing instead of being by the sideline :) (or maybe be Kash's sergeant of arms for her kedai runcit... after all, I worked as a sales assistant during uni for years!)

Sunday I was up and ready to go for a nice long run to just give some juice back into my dormant running legs. I went out for a warm-up run and only in the third km I felt a slight pinch.

I continued my run again with the company of a good running friend. The conversation was good, the weather was blisfully humid (we started at 840 am) and my mind and heart were psyched. I was ready to run longer, albeit slower. Things were looking up, and my body was warm enough to the point where I nearly started to hum. The only problem was my knees were complaining of being overworked and they did not like it one bit.

They made a point to tell me about their unsatisfaction every single pounding step. But the run was getting good, we were just warmed up and in my heart I could go on and on and on with this. This used to be my walk in the park.

But I'm not stupid, and I refuse to be foolish for the second time around. I cannot run anymore, well not at that time. I can't - and won't - let me ego of running yet another marathon or a much talked about race hinder the progress of my recovering knees. I still have other events to run in, and I'm not going to spoil it by forcing my knees into submission, to which they simply won't.

This is the tiring part of running, the part where I almost always go back and forth between throwing the towel, or exclaiming, "I love running!" I'm tired of juggling between want and can't. It's highly demotivating and such a downer to keep on worrying about nagging injuries.

But it's not the end of the world.

I had a great Saturday, and for that I am grateful. It wasn't as good as last last Saturday, to which I would put up as the benchmark for the best workout performance ever. I have come to totally cherish who I am turning to instead of just being resistant to change. There is a different possibility in my athletic capability, in my future athletic journey, and to be honest I am more than fine to accept it.

Let's have a perfect week ladies and gentlemen.

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." — Maya Angelou

Botched Week

I was all set to have a good running session mixed in with my karate training for this whole week and then my boss dropped the bomb - for me to be at Pasir Gudang until Friday for some pre-commissioning work. Where all my friends cheered and said they couldn't believe their luck (yard visits are a favorite when it comes to my department) I was secretly appalled. My karate classes -8 hours of them over 5 days - all shot to pieces. I was really hoping this week to get more intense after coming back from the comp.

 Thank God - and this is why running rules, (regardless that I seem to enjoy other sports a little bit now) - that you can do your running anywhere. All it takes are a pair of shoes and a sports bra (and tshirts and pants of course but for women you can't run without sports bra hehe) and off you go. This is my favorite part of running - to run in a different place with a completely different scenery. Usually when this happens tracking your mileage will never work unless you have a GPS. What I usually do is to run based on time. Which means I probably have to tote around my cellphone as well and run for maybe half an hour or so. I probably shouldn't go too far lest I forget the direction to go back to my hotel (Grand Dorsett).

 This reminds me of the time when I went to Cambodia and went for morning runs in Siem Reap. It was so cool, and I think chickens there run too cause they were fast and nipping my feet. Oh well, memories.

 

Honey, I'm Back

The result is out: I am deemed fit to run again.

 After a weeklong back to back checkup with my doctor (which involved a lot of waiting), a long MRI session in which I was hoping for a good looking McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy analysing my scans, and a series of knee tests, he said that aside from the genetic flaw of my bone structure and the spurs already formed and the bone degeneration at some places, technically, there shouldn't be any reason I should not run. He would have preferred I don't run, but walk instead, and we have agreed to settle on doing moderate distances.

 Marathons are out. The training it takes to get there will make my knees cry, "Uncle!". Forget about trails, even the thought of them makes my knees cringe reflectively like some kind of a Pavlovian response. Not going to unearth the Nepal memories again!

 To be honest, I am in a cross between euphoria and trepidation. I haven't been running for 3 months? I have let go of all running things - schedules, blogs, etc - and even though they seemed hard at first by now it has become natural for me not to think of running. The first month, I would drive past the lake on the way back from work and out of habit would turn my head and look at the runners to see if I could catch a glimpse of familiar figures. Because I would not be joining them as I had many many times before, I would feel a twinge. But now I just drive past, and if I happened to be glancing at the runners, I would think, "Damn, that's tiring!"

 In my quest to compensate the cardio benefits of running in my life, I have stuffed as many other sports that I could into my busy week. I bought a bike. I took swimming seriously (to be honest, sometimes I regretted it. I miss swimming and NOT caring about techniques), I in-line skate like crazy (the. best. rush. ever), I continued with karate (awesome drills!), and incorporate yoga in between (seriously, yoga is definitely not for grandmas only. You do NOT need a gym after giving this a try).

 I have been carrying the 'runner' tag for too long on my back until the last few months when I began to enjoy other activities. I became obsessed with sparring, I practiced speed skating uphills, I map out cycling routes that would make me die halfway, planned out swimming drills, and would go crazy if I missed out on one vinyasa class. I am not a runner anymore - I am a cardio freak!

  So now I am left trying to figure out my weekly schedules. I have crammed them full until Sunday. Everyday is filled with either yoga, skating, swimming, biking and karate. I don't know when I could squeeze in some running time without jeopardizing my family and the wrath from my soon to be neglected boyfriend hehe. I still want to have friends after running races you know. Even my mom is starting to be unhappy with how dark I have become and how unwomanly (since I'm decked out in tshirts and sports bag and flip flops with uncombed hair in between). But that is another story.

 Anyway, my first race for 2010: Energizer Night Race. I registered for a 10km. With my dad. I don't really like hyped up races but I'm not complaining. After all, a race is still a race. I might be starting my run tomorrow... or maybe Tuesday. We'll see, won't we?

 All I know right now is, "Damnit, running is tiring!" 

 I think I'm just going to walk.

 

 

7 DAYS

My dad used to tell me, "The more you know, the more you don't know."

 I remember my first 10k race. Prior to that, the longest distance I ran was 3km. Tired 3kms. But I made it through 10km on sheer race-day adrenaline and perseverance. 

 And then I started to read running books, blogs, forum, whatever you have. And I started to do all the right running things - speedwork, hill runs, lsd, tempo runs. And that's when I found out that it's sort of impossible to do a 21km without training. 

 But at the same time I know of some friends who jumped into the 21km race without proper training, that I know of. They did it again this year for BIM with minimal training that running blogs would have a heart attack on upon finding out. One dude even did the full marathon and I think the longest LSD he did was 18~ km. He finished.

 In 7 days, I'm going for a 21km. I'm freaking out because everyone says it's not easy, especially the last 7k part. Mentally mostly, and your body takes some toll on it too. My serious lack of preparation as stated by all these running blogs and magazine is freaking me out, bit by bit. But  on the other hand I'm trying to remember these set of friends that ran 2 half marathons with just hard motivation. They didn't know that running without training was suicide.

 I'm just going through with it. I wouldn't know how hard it would me on the race, but I'll try my hardest to finish it, whatever time it takes.

 

UNDERTRAINED

I'm freaking out.

 My first half marathon is in 2 weeks or so, and I have yet to cover any respectable mileage. AT ALL. I've only done 2 10 k races. 

 I'm going for a long walk today to get my legs used to the exercise again. And lots of swimming. and lots of kickboxing. maybe just boxing.

She sounds spanish

but the injury feels like its from hell. Chrondomalacia Patella, that's the name of whatever's been bugging my knee. It doesn't really require a rocket scientist to figure it out; I'd done some googling of my own and when the doctor confirmed I actually lip-synched him. I mean, who can pronounce those two words unless they've got some practice during work hours thanks to Google? 

 Some people dub it the classic Runner's Knees, but whatever it's called, I got a nasty case of it because the intensity was heightened during my trekking trip. Especially the last 2 days or so when the course was just downhill and included thousands of steps (a porter we met said that we'd just covered 2 thousand or so steps on that day... but I was incredulous) 

 So no nothing for about 7 weeks... at least nothing intense. I've been fasting the whole week to compensate my inactivity - at least I got something good out of this month - but I think I should start swimming at least... or kickboxing. It's hard to find swimming pools that don't close at 8pm or get too crowded with little kids or rowdy college students who make it hard to swim smoothly, especially when they splash around until the water gets choppy. I could do badminton with the boyfriend again, but he's busy with school and also sporting an ankle injury of his own. The most I could do is swimming on weekends or maybe one weeknight, and kickboxing (maybe just boxing!) one weeknight.

 How safe is it to run early in the morning at KLCC park? My previous job was relaxed enough to allow me to leave at 5pm sharp and arrive at Subang's lake to run for 30 minutes or so (I usually arrive in subang at 630pm), but my new job seems to demand after 5 working hours. I hate running in the evening especially at the park where most of my colleagues would be ambling back to their cars, and the only option I could think of to run is early in the morning before work starts. I usually reach my office at 7am (one hour earlier) so I was thinking I could run for half an hour and shower in the gym (my department has a membership). Wait... but that's my previous department. Rats!

 There goes all my careful planning. I'm running out of options with my future running schedule. Is there anyone you know who is looking for a running partner to run throughout the week? Maybe I should join the Adidas running community since they run at klcc park every tuesdays.