myROADid

Batgirl: Why haven’t you submitted your road ID details? Don’t you want to order one?
Me: I don’t know whose contact details to put in case of an emergency
Batgirl: Why not put down QMum and EDad’s details?
Me: I don’t want to give Emperor Daddy a heart attack! Besides, he only likes using his phones to file jokes and as photo album for my cute and cuddly as a pooh bear nephew! And… If they call Queen Mum and its an emergency and they tell her i’m in my death bed then she’ll just give me a sermon and a quiz.
Batgirl: A sermon?
Me: Yes, about road safety. How I never really think before I leap/ run/ jump! How I still need to be reminded to look left or right before the crossing the streets. How its always best to have a buddy while navigating through life’s streets. And extra pair of eyes. Someone’s hand to hold.  You know! Basic stuff I should have learned in kindergarten but never did.
Batgirl: And the quiz?
Me: Much the same one she expects St. Peter will give me at heaven’s gate. I don’t think she knows the address to my mansion in hell yet. She’ll probably ask me about the lives of saints…
Batgirl: Oh. How about your sister’s number? Maybe Sr. Sister’s number? She’s responsible isn’t she?
Me: I run early mornings and evenings. Either she is doing the lauds or vespers with the congregation. I don’t think you are allowed to use your cellphone when you are praying? Kung Fu panda will be really annoyed!
Batgirl: Hmmm… Howsabout the brothers?
Me: The brothers have this genetic condition. They never hear phones, doorbells, even cars honking.They never did when we were young. I expect that condition can only worsen with age… I guess I’ll just put your number and SeriousCat??
Batgirl: Okkkkkkeey…
Me: Then you’ll be taking care of calling QMum?
Batgirl: Ooohkkkeeeyyy…
Me: Thanks! Hmmm…you probably should brush up on the lives of saints too, huh?

Mighty M

I get a message from Mighty M. Mighty M is my weight management coach, sometimes shrink, full time running guru!

“I am writing a piece for the PDI lifestyle section about maintaining proper diets. Can I tell them about your experience?”

I reply, “Sure, why not!” And then I quickly add, “Wait! What experience?” I have a lot. I wasn’t sure if this was one of those stories I had chosen to chuck deep deep down earth’s incinerator core so it would burn, burn, burn!!

She replies, “It’s a piece on how when you really start recording and paying attention to what you eat you get better results! I’m using you as an example. How when you lessened your sports drink intake for runs less than an hour and just took more water you finally started to hit your target weight!”

“Oh that! ” I say, meanwhile my brain is sprinting at an elite runner’s pace… How do I get a concession out of this? I frame my next statement very carefully. ” You mean that whole solid-liquid issue we had? How it was actually the liquids I was taking that was messing up my diet and not the solids like pizza and pasta?”

“Yes,she says. But you still better lay off those pizza slices! ” She is not Mighty for nothing. She shoots me down before I even make my move!

Dang! I sigh… “Ok, fine! You can write about it! “

“Oh!” She adds. “I need to include your name and occupation. What again is your occupation?”

“Exotic dancer!” I quickly reply.

I get a smiley with a raised eyebrow! Drat!

confessions of a reluctant racer (the makings of THE PLAN)

The first line is what always stumps me so I’ll just ignore it altogether and rush right into the middle of this paragraph. It’s what i do best. Bust right into some space, find sufficient wiggle room, and make myself comfortable. This blog will involve some running but its not going to be purely about running. My friend, Batgirl (aka bananarunning, aka baliwrunning, aka siya ang bahala!) and her blog already talks about our running life. I say ours in a loose sense. It’s really her blog about her runs and her training! But there’s a gang of us who share the program and have plotted out the same races for the year. Some of us may be working with more and others with less mileage but we all have the same end goal… a marathon before this year is over… or maybe next year? It all depends on whether we find one in this country or we have to make a trip elsewhere to get to one.

Batgirl and I run the same routes and follow quite similar training schedules. Ours is probably the closest in the group. I’m usually in the same races she’s in. Often just a couple of paces behind and a few worlds away! Her program is just a wee bit more hardcore. And It’s definitely far better thought out. Prior to THE PLAN, my plan for most runs, especially races, fell more in the line of running-this-pace-will-allow-me-to-finish-with-enough-time-and-energy-so-I-can-join-the-gang-for-breakfast! Other times it was simply to run after the one with the
best looking butt!

While Batgirl and I do the same runs, I’ve realized that we don’t always run for the same reasons. She’s goal driven. She’s focused. She knows what she wants from every run. Even when she’s having fun, she knows that’s the plan from the get-go. I, on the other hand, would usually just figure it out when I already find myself huffing and puffing in the middle of my run. That’s how we differ. I typically will just broadcast my wants to the universe and then just dive headlong into the activity with a lot of enthusiasm and bravado verging on the insane. I’d have the semblance of a plan but the details are often left blurry. Which is probably the reason why I seemed to have been programmed to have a great tolerance for pain and suffering. Someone up there knew that, left to my own devices, I would need it!

Soon after I returned from a yet another trip with yet another body part wrapped in bandage, Batgirl informs me about HER PLAN. This is before THE PLAN. Batgirl then takes the time to sit down, plot things out, strategize, consult with the gods in the department of world domination and then she calls everyone to a gathering. She presents the plan, gets everyone’s consensus (all physically and mentally present plus all the imaginary entities in our heads) and carves out our agreements in stone! Or on something just as hard to erase. We’ve finally reached the point of no return. Once it’s agreed upon then you stick to it. Or all hell and the relentless wave of the Batgirl’s power will descend upon you. NY marathon 2010? Game! Milo half in August? In Cebu? Why not! Mizuno 15K? Great! We have THE PLAN!!! Now we have fun! This is my saving grace. I’ve always been blessed with friends who have the skills and the necessary alpha roar to jolt me out of my doodeedoo jet-lagged stupor!

I started running because it was the easiest program to stick to given all the trips I needed to do in a year. The goal was not to run races. At least, I didn’t think it was. Batgirl sneaked that one in on me. I do remember mentioning a marathon but all that was all in the abstract. Something I planned on doing when I grew up. Like when I turned a hundred! Running was really just the easiest way to keep fit. To not lose out on all the work I did in the gym while I was in Manila. Not that I did a lot of work back then. Weighing scales would snicker every time I got near them… Anyway, my main problem then was that treadmills bored the hell out of me… So I decided to run outside. But running solo bored me to tears that gushed into other levels of Dante’s hell too so I decided to find a friend. I begged, cajoled, bullied, annoyed Batgirl into joining me. (One of the rare times my bullying actually worked!) and the rest is well- a couple of knee and hip pains, some shin pain and lots of laughter and fun and running mileage- history!

So why do I run? I run for many reasons. Yes, I run with the end goal of eventually joining and finishing a marathon. And yes, i run to keep fit. Sometimes it’s to make a sneaky getaway from my chaotic schedule or my ho-hum of a day. And occasionally, i do race. But oftentimes I just run because i like losing myself in the moment/minutes/hours/ of pure effort, sometimes pain,often bliss. You name the pain, I’ve probably made friends with it while running. The highs I get from running definitely overwhelm the lows. The highs make all the grunts and ouches and the odd outbursts worth it! There are days when i would run just because I could and then there are days I run simply because I promised I would. For whatever reason, I choose to run! And most of the time I enjoy it. And on the days that I don’t then I just focus on the meal that will be shared after with a gang of friends–a group that loves running in much the same way I do. And I get ready to savor the stories…