E = (-) zzzs and (+) pain

I’m a genius in the mornings.

Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

I set my alarm clock (actually two) to ring at four this morning knowing that it would take little short of the force generated by an exploding star to get myself to roll out of bed for my morning run.

My problem was that I hated interval runs. (Still do!)  And I was scheduled to do one at 5am. So a few minutes after my alarm sounded, I decided it was time to have a brilliant idea. I then computed the total mileage of the interval set and sandwiched it in between two 3km easy runs (my warm up and cool down).  I would still need to do the dreaded fast pace at a certain point in the run but it didn’t sound as awful as doing a 6×800 at a little under 5 minute/km  pacing.  So 11kms it would be. I still wasn’t sure if I was doing a fartlek or a tempo in the middle. It didn’t matter. The main thing was that I had gotten rid of the interval.

First problem solved. The Interval run is thrown out of the window. I was off to do a sneaky tempo/fartlek/whatever run.

Humans perceive sound by the sense of hearing. By sound, we commonly mean the vibrations that travel through air and are audible to people. The matter that supports the sound is called the medium. The scientific study of the absorption and reflection of sound waves is called acoustics.

Next problem, I do not enjoy running alone. And MightyM, my run companion, had gone off to recharge at the beach.  No problem. I simply needed to bring a new playmate along. I grabbed the ipod nano, which I had so thoughtfully charged the night before, and headed out the door. In that split second before I stepped out of my front door and walked down the hallway to the elevator, I must have figured out a way to listen to music in my nano without using earphones. Because that’s the only logical conclusion I could draw as to why I had walked out of the door without it.  Nano in hand, no earphones. Like I said, genius!

Gravity is the natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.

And off I go and the first three kilometers go by really fast. This is my next problem. I should have been going at a 6:15/km clip for my warm up. My Garmin, Mr. SoulCrusher, tells me otherwise. I started the run at 5:40 and accelerated quite some more after that. Which explains why 5kms into the run, I felt the force of gravity working on the center of my body (my butt) and forcing it towards the the core of the earth.

I was out of breath, out of water and nearing negative in the brain matter count. It’s a good thing I started out a genius!

Also I had managed to plan my route so well that my 5km tempo started right at the bottom of a steep incline. Brilliant, totally genius moves so far!

Solution? I veered off to the left, jogged a few hundred meters in a circle, did some deep breathing and calming exercises and then allowed momentum and pride (isn’t that a sin?) to draw me back to my old path and keep running.

From this point on I must have done something right. Simply because I find that  I’m still alive and am able to log this run in. It must have been exhilarating. It must have been fun.  I don’t remember. Clearly my entire consciousness then was focused on surviving the run.

Sneaky run over. Problems created. Problems solved. And all this before six in the morning!  I knew it! I’m a genius.

For other concerns like solving the world’s financial ills, world hunger, and world peace…talk to me after 11am.

nada

Spanish would, without a doubt, be heard spoken in our home on three distinct occasions.

The first was when my grandfather was angry. A crescendo of Spanish words would be accompanied by  expansive hand gestures, face reddening and bulging eyes. Most of this tirade in an alien language, I would be unable to process or even understand. This, I considered  a good thing especially when the rant was aimed directly at me.

The second would almost always be over food. It’s when the Spanish speaking side of the family would come together and, as with all our family gatherings, the tables would be packed with food. I only needed to know one, well two,  Spanish words to survive in this setting. “… Quieres?”  My aunt/uncle/cousin/grandfather/ would say as they offered me food. “Oh quiero, definitely, quiero!” I would answer, grab the food, and then run away with my stash to my little corner and gobble it up.

And the third? Well, the third would be during quieter times when I would find my grandfather sitting in his big chair in his favorite corner of the house. He’d be done with his siesta. I would be home from school. It would be time for my pre-bedtime story then. Usually, that’s something Lolo would read straight out of  the newspaper he always carried around with him. Here and there he would add commentaries in English and Spanish, imparting snippets (mostly cryptic words to me) of worldly wisdom.  I remember one now. “Si quieres matar a un cuerdo, atale a pie un necio.”

If you want to kill a sane person, tie a fool to his foot.

It certainly feels like that today. Actually, it even feels like the fool is strapped on to my chest.

So still no running. No running this past week. Definitely no running today.

This virus has got to go!

&*%%*?!!1 (Now that’s another Spanish word I know. Unfortunately, it’s unprintable!)

ready, get set, go….rilla!

Last week, I started playing tag with the flu virus. This week, it finally got me.  I’ve been stuck in bed for the last three days taking in enough liquid to drown out a small island. It’s not fun. And it’s certainly boring as hell. I hear there was a typhoon that passed by yesterday. But I was zonked out in bed the whole time it was happening. Except for SeriousCat’s nightly missions of mercy (food delivery) i haven’t had any real contact with the outside world.

Today, the virus finally seems to be in retreat. Well, i hope it is. Three days of antibiotic blitzes should do that, right?  I’ve managed to stay awake long enough to do some work, read through my email and send proof of life messages out. One of the emails waiting in my inbox is from a client/friend in the UK. If I needed further convincing that running is not only addictive but  also contagious well this would be it. The last time we got together, I regaled him with stories about running. What else could I regale him with? Running has taken over the non-work part of my life. Apparently that got him thinking and it also got him running. Today he sent me this info about a run he is joining this weekend and a link.

The GREAT GORILLA RUN!

I’ve visited the site and it does look like a lot of good running fun is in store for him this Saturday. And by good, I mean GOOD.  It’s definitely a way to get some great karma going.

What’s the great gorilla run all about? Well, basically you suit up in a gorilla costume (which you also get to keep) and you run 7km through London’s streets and in the process you do your share in helping save an endangered community… the Gorillas! Now that’s a run I wish I could take part in. Mainly because i think I’ll be a natural running  in a gorilla suit. And even before I cried my eyes out watching Gorillas in the Mist I’ve already had this affection for our furry cousins. Hell, I think I’ve even dated a few…

Here are some Gorilla facts from the site…

There are 4 types and they all live in West and Central Africa:

1. Mountain Gorillas

One of the most endangered animals on earth. There will be as many Great Gorilla Runners in London in September 2008, as there are Mountain Gorillas – just 720!

2. Eastern Lowland Gorillas

There are an estimated 3,000 of these slightly less hairy gorillas, which doesn’t mean they are any less important. I guess this seems like quite a few compared to the Mountain gorillas but when you realise that there were around 17,000 only ten years ago you can understand just how threatened they are.

3. Western Lowland Gorillas.

These gorillas were thought to be relatively safe because they live in huge dense forests, which are pretty hard to get to. But that was before people started building roads through the forests and a nasty ebola virus killed thousands of them in just a few months. 60% of these gorillas have been wiped out in less than 30 years.

4. Cross-River gorillas.

Rarely seen, even more rarely photographed, these are some of the most elusive and threatened creatures on the planet – there may be as few as 250 left in the world.

The Great Gorilla Run also happens in four other places: San Francisco, Amsterdam, New York and China. This run is definitely in my list now.

running your age

And so it has come to this. It is 3:45 am on a Sunday morning and I am on my way to another weekend party. This time though I am in my running gear.  It’s going to be a running party. The SkinnyPiggyWiggy run.  It’s Mighty M’s 31st birthday celebration.

The plan was to run 31kms, or 25 or however many kilometers you wanted. You run as long and as far and towards any direction you want to go. You just need to make sure that at 7am you are back at the registration point. Because at 7 am, everyone is coming together and heading out for what has now turned out to be my favorite meal of the day, BREAKFAST!

The last time I was out this early, or this late, depending on how you choose to look at it, I was on my way to pick up a friend from a bar. She had called me because she was sure I would be awake. And she was certain I would be sober because, as she claims, I’ve turned boring.

This, from a 40plus year old who wore cummerbunds in the ’80s and messed up the ozone layer big time by spray netting her hair.

But yes, I’ve turned boring. Well, slightly…

Most of my friends are older than me. That’s how I con myself into thinking I’m still young. I just make sure I hang around older people.

I had one friend who stayed 40 three years in a row. I found out about it in the middle of her 2nd year as a 40 year old. We had gone together to the LTO to renew our driver’s license. I needed to renew mine, she needed to replace hers because apparently she donated it again to one of the bars in the area. Alcohol inspires generosity in some people. I put 36 as my age because I was basing it on hers. The guy at the counter told me I was only 35. She sheepishly admitted she was 41. He wasn’t so impressed with our creativity. I was in shock.

Mighty M says one should run one’s age. That’s her birthday ritual. She runs the equivalent distance of her age on her birthday or on a day close to it.  I wonder how long she plans to keep it up. But then she isn’t mighty M in my book for nothing. I’m sure she’ll find ways to keep running. Younger or older, I’ve also realized that most of my friends have a masochistic strain encoded in their genes.

I’m so glad we are in that part of the globe that’s using the metric system. I don’t think I can do the equivalent distance in miles. At this point, I should already be running ultras. (Unless I choose to run my mental age. Then that’ll be one very short easy run!)

running up and joyfully down…

“Your friend is jogging. You are walking.”  The smiling woman points this out to me in a matter of fact tone as she walks towards me up a slight incline. She is wearing a dark purple shirt. A pink scarf covers her head.  Her face is lined  with age but her eyes are warm and bright.  And what I had at first thought was a sack of vegetables she was carrying turns out to be a child, perhaps a grandchild, she had strapped securely to her back using a thick white fabric.

“Opo,” I say respectfully in the vernacular with a smile.  “Yes. My friend likes to run.”

“She’s way ahead of you.” She points out. “You probably should start running if you want to catch up.”

I smile and then nod my head to signify my agreement.  And right before she disappears up the road she gifts me with another smile and an encouraging wave.

But I keep walking.

I had found myself in Barangay (community) of Madongo.  My friend and I were off for our Sunday morning run. It was an hour after sunrise. I had awakened to the sound of the church bells ringing. The plan was to run twelve kilometers, go six kilometers out and six back. We had no specific destination.  We just knew we needed to make it back in an hour and a half. We were leaving Sagada that day. We were headed home. We needed to catch the one bus that left that same morning.

Three roads converge at the center of the town of Sagada.  One road leads out towards Bontoc one way and towards the caves the other way. Where it goes from that point, I do not know. . Another splits off towards the Big falls and Besao (I know this because I saw this written on the sides of the rare Jeepneys that plied through this route). And the third one, well, it was right in the middle of town. It went up and up and up. We walked up that road in our search for a place to stay in on our first day.

On the one day we went running, we took the same road that brought us to the Big Falls the day before.  It seemed like a quiet route with tall pine trees providing good shade. Both of us didn’t quite realize how steep the climb up would be. But I like the challenge of running up hilly paths.

Our run up the mountain road went pretty smoothly. After about 30 minutes of running, Batgirl decided to up her tempo. I decided to slow mine down. I lost sight of her just before we hit the community of Madongo.

A low and subtle light illuminated the mountains and vales of Sagada as we slowly made our way up the road. Trees lined the narrow and winding path we were running on. On our right was a wall of dark carved out rockface. It was quiet. So quiet that our foot falls seemed to echo every time it hit the paved, cemented surface.

And then I hear the sound of children’s laughter. The road up is narrow and winding. As I turn the corner, I see a cluster of houses now lining the road. It is still very early in the morning. But already the community was abuzzed with activities. Children are playing a rough game of tag in the middle of the road. They run after each other and then start wrestling with whomever they catch.  A few meters down, a group of older men are huddled together in a semi circle.  As I pass the group, one of them shouts out a greeting. I smile and wish him a good morning. He points to the road ahead of me and says in the vernacular,”Your friend has jogged ahead of you.”  I smile my thanks and continue on. A woman then peeks out from inside a store, she then proceeds to tell me the same thing. Every time I meet someone on the road, I would get an update on my friend’s whereabouts. They had correctly assumed that we were together although we were now running some distance apart. They seemed to find our presence there amusing and subject for friendly chatter.

I keep walking and I see two girls wearing jogging pants coming towards me. At first I think that they are also on a morning run of their own. But one of them is was carrying a pitchfork. The other one is holding a machete. Whatever these two girls were up, It was bound to be more strenuous an activity than a simple morning run.

I walk some more and I spy a man’s legs wriggling from under a bus. Another man sitting beside him hands him a wrench. It’s a garage of sorts. A few other jeeps are parked in a haphazard manner by the road side.

The sun has now risen past the mountain tops. I’ve started scanning the road ahead looking for Batgirl. And I almost missed it. An amazing view of the green terraced valley below me. In the distance, mountain tops disappearing in indigo blue gossamer mist.

Life doesn’t stop when you get to Sagada. It doesn’t even slow down. It just goes at a different pace altogether.

There are roads meant for running. And then there are roads that seem to invite you to run a little slower, perhaps even walk or stand still for a few minutes by its side, and watch life as it parades by in vivid, picturesque, striking detail. A view that grounds you and reminds you that  unexpected joy is waiting to be found even in the simplest of journeys.

The bells have started ringing again. It is echoing through the mountains. Idle mist has disappeared from the mountain tops.  It is time to make my way back to town. It is time to head for home.  I pick up my pace once again, i turn around very slowly and take on the expansive view, and just like that, I was ready to head joyfully down the mountain.