Sometimes, inspiration in running doesn't have to be watching those Elite Kenyans or Ethiopians like Gebrselassie or Makau dominate a marathon race. Sometimes it doesn't have to be someone in the running community to perform an incredible or heroic race. It doesn't have to be someone as sexy as Kara Goucher.
Sometimes, inspiration can take in the form of a partner, a special loving someone. For me, my new inspiration is my new special someone to share a lot of fun times with, and unexpectedly - RUNNING!
Kat-Kat was my Sister's board-mate in College, and I had a secret crush with her, so she never knew I liked her at the time, she even won't believe me now. She said she used to run a bit even in College, and now that she works at HP, she got hooked in Running and joining their company Fun Runs. Last December, we joined the Sendong Fun Run with my sister. I paced both of them, but I've decided to support and stick with the slowest of the two of them. My Sister beat Katkat by 1minute, she finished in 35minutes while Kat Kat finished in 36minutes. I was actually expecting both of them to finish 40+minutes in the hilly McKinley Hill route, so I was happy with their times and praised them for their good job!
After the Sendong Race, Kat Kat and I got closer as friends, and I gave her a training program that I thought should fit her best - gradually increasing easy mileage that would eventually reach 40miles/week (60kms/week). I knew she has been running, but I doubted that she was consistent enough to improve gradually, so I considered her to still a newbie. So high mileage should work wonders for her - she initially aimed for a 2:15 time for a 21Km race this September.
She would commute to UP or McKinley Hill on weekdays, and I would accompany her during the weekend in UP. On Saturdays, I would run with her, and we would call it "Run-Date". On Sundays, she would run by herself so she could control her own pace, and workout that long run to 13miles (21K) regularly.
On our real dates, we would go in running shops like RUNNR or NIKE stores and drool over the running shoes. I never met a woman before who would actually drool over running shoes like I do, so I thought this was a great sign. She brought the new SKECHERS "GO RUN" that was made famous recently by Meb Keflezighi by winning the USA Men's Marathon Olympic Trials, which makes them real racing shoes!
For her first race this year, we've decided to join 10K BDO Run at MOA. I finished it at a disappointing (for me) 45minutes, while to my surprise, Kat Kat finished it at 57minutes! I was expecting her to finish it maybe at 59minutes, but she was actually 2minutes faster!
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| 57minute 10K debut! |
Because she was 2minutes faster than expected, I wasn't able to shoot a good camera angle of her, but look, she's actually smiling her way to the finish line! She also placed 3rd in the female category, so I was so happy and so proud of her that I bought her a Garmin Forerunner 405. The pink GF110 looked more feminine, but I felt Kat Kat's a more serious runner and the GF110 lacked the programmable interval/speedwork that GF405 provided.
In our next race, we joined the National Geographic 10K run that I felt was ridiculously expensive and they just didn't meet my expensive expectations. I mean yes they do have the right to make it expensive, but as consumers we will also have the right to complain and voice out our disappointment. It was only a few weeks after the BDO race, so we didn't improve much, and got almost the same race times. The only thing I liked about the Nat Geo Race is their Photobooth, where we got awesome memorable pics!
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I've said, January her goal was just to run a 2:15 half-marathon. Well just in
training in UP, she already ran a 2:13. She continues to surprise me in her
training long runs, but I've warned her not to race her workouts and she
assures me they're easy for her! I guess a sub2hour 21K is inevitable...
Unfortunately,
running does have its ups and downs. Kat Kat had fast UPS, and she also had a
unexpected recent DOWN. In one of her training at McKinley Hill, she had a
nasty wrong step while doing a left U-Turn in a Hilly Slope. She then got a
foot pain at the outer side of her left foot, similar location to my stress
fracture last year. I told her to stop running for 2 to 3weeks, but she's too
hard headed that it's too bad her foot's not as hard as her head, and she would
start running again after 2 or 3days, only to find herself hurting too much and
unable to run after 2miles. At least it's good to see her burning desire to
keep on running despite the pain. She went to pain and rehab and got her foot
examined. Good thing the X-ray revealed no stress-fracture, and there were no
signs of inflammation, so we suspect it's just tendonitis or maybe some torn
ligaments. However these injuries do take a lot of time to heal, and now she's
listening to her doctor to stop running for 2 to 3weeks. It'll be 2weeks for
her this coming Wednesday, she said she feels no pain right now, so hopefully
next week will be a good start for her.
While
her foot was still healing she bought another running shoe, the Nike Lunar
Racer, similar to my own racing shoe. The RUNNR store got a great discount so
she had to buy it before they ran out of stock. My size10 already ran out of
stock when I was about to buy my 2nd pair. Good thing I was able to buy one at
a good discount 3weeks ago in the same store. Funny thing is, the salesperson
recognized her and remarked that she was buying the same pair of shoes I
bought! :-)
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| We're a good-looking pair together! |
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| How a runner prepares a Romantic Dinner: Kat-Kat used Gatorade as "WINE"! |
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| Why do I see my runner-self in her? |
