I've had second thoughts of blogging about this new (or more of renewed) interest of mine because 'Joei & Me' has been associated more with food or travel than fitness. But like I always say, my blog is my diary so I finally decided to dedicate a post about running here since it's something that has sparked my interest lately. In fact, I never realized it but my first entry in this blog is about my Nike+ Sports Band (read my blog post about
My New Runningmate) which was a Christmas gift from T.
To be honest, I'm not a runner. I was a volleyball player back in the day. We jump, we roll, we spike but we don't really run except if we're getting 'punished' for not being able to perform well in court during practice. I also haven't been active in the past year. My work out consists mostly of walking around the mall and carrying shopping bags :D But T's sister Michelle convinced me to be her buddy for the Nike Women's Half Marathon this year. Grabe diba half marathon kaagad?? I don't regret it though. In fact, I'm glad I said yes because this half marathon is something to check off my do-something-you've-never-done-before list before I celebrate my birthday in May.
So after we registered, I ran maybe once a week, twice at the most, but never really gave it much thought until last week when I realized that the race is only a few weeks away. Panic mode. Luckily, my friends are also into fitness lately so our 'gimiks' are now running or working out in the gym. It also helps that I have T who is very supportive and friends who push me when I say I don't think I can do this (hi Kat Reambillo!). I'm also thankful for my runner and triathlete friends who give free tips about running programs, what to do, what to buy, and all that (hi everyone!). One important advice I got from Tito Joey Torres, who is an Ironman athlete, is to run in the morning since the race I'm joining is not in the evening.
So last Monday, I woke up early (this in itself is already a feat for me!) and ran. I was gunning for 12K because I haven't gotten past 11 kilometers but when I felt like I still had energy, I continued on until I reached 16K. I wanted to push it a bit further still but my phone's battery was dying at 5% so I stopped at 16.5K.