i love running

Sorry for not blogging much lately, I feel there's nothing interesting in my own training and racing. I was injured after the Condura Marathon, had pulled hamstrings after a week of recovery. So my month of March was really poor in my training.  I thought I would focus on shorter distance and maybe get good results, but I only got disappointing 44 and 45minutes of 10K races. Damn that NatGeo race was ridiculously expensive!  But now, I am slowly getting stronger and faster again. I've downloaded SMART COACH training program from Runnersworld.com to help me with my training. I'll be focusing for the Team Power Puff Boy's Race in Chris Sports Epic Relay on June10, and perhaps hopefully qualify for the Milo Marathon again.

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!

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!

Like 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! :-)

We're a good-looking pair together!

I love Kat Kat for who and what she is, and it's a big bonus for me that she's also a serious passionate runner, and also a fast one! I see a lot of potential in her, I'm so excited already. My sister once said that if I ever find another girlfriend, it should be someone who also loves running. True, because I've heard a lot of complaints from my runner friends wherein their wives would complain of their running. We never imagined it to be her friend Kat Kat. In a lot of ways, I see a lot of myself as a runner in her. It's only been 2months for us, but the signs really show, and I really think this is it, I've finally found my Running partner for Life! 

How a runner prepares a Romantic Dinner: Kat-Kat used Gatorade as "WINE"!

Why do I see my runner-self in her?