The Heart Run

September 17, 2011 (Heart Run) Davao City--I believe that most everyone wants to be healthy. The hardest thing is doing something about it! I have been hearing about these fun runs for a long time and this is the first time that I finally joined one.

It was my youngest son Tommy's idea. It was encouraged since it was a school activity. He came up to me one morning, announcing matter-of-factly, that he was going to run. 10 kilometers, at that! He asked simply if I wanted to join him. I almost choked. Of course, I wanted to. It's just that...the MIND is so willing...you know the rest.:) 

The Route was People’s Park, Quirino Ave. going to Gaisano Mall Bajada then straight to Victoria Plaza and vice versa. Schedule was 4:00am – Assembly

4:30 am – Registration

5:00 am – 10 K Run

5:15 am - 5K Run

5:30 am – 3K Run

That was where we belonged. The humble 3K. In my mind, I thought to myself..easy. It’s about time my malling (SM, Gaisano, Abreeza,etc) pays off. 3- 5 hours of window shopping?? What harm can a 3K run do to me? 

But was I wrong!! I was out of breath from just a few minutes of steady running. I didn’t expect it to be that hard. Children and teenagers were getting ahead of Trix and I. And what’s funny was, some people are already coming back from their 5K run and we have just started ours!

While I was panting, thoughts run through my head. One of them was to take a taxi back to the starting ground! I could think of a lot of reasons why I ended with 52 minutes for a 3K run. Let me state them:

1.) I had no consistent and regular exercise

2.) I didn’t have enough sleep from watching dvd from the night before (and had to 

wake up at 3:30am)

3.) There were a lot of stop signs

4.) I couldn’t catch my breath and feared I might collapse 

5.) I had to tie my shoelaces several times

6.) My socks kept sinking (they are actually called sinking socks!) so I had to stop and 

bring them back up. 

7.) The sole of my rubber shoes finally gave in! It’s flapping like crazy!

But at the end of it all, it was a sense of accomplishment when we were given plastic bands to mark half of our run and at the finish line-- finisher’s certificate. 

Lessons learned – take note of all my excuses and... buy a new pair of socks and running shoes.