For the Love of Running...

Friday night, after our practice jogging at UP Diliman, I already felt that my hate day of the month is already near. I fervently prayed that it won't hit January 17, my first run of the year. Come Saturday, I never felt any menstrual cramps the whole day. I almost jumped for joy, I am thinking that the Sambong tea did worked miracles for me. And so I prepared my things for the 2010 Bull Run: Takbo Para sa Ekonomiya and lulled myself to sleep.

At exactly 12:30AM, I am awakened by my painful menstruation. I immediately sent My Angel and Irish a message on whether I should take medicine (Dolfenal 250mg) or just not attend the race. I already expected that My Angel won't answer the phone, he is soundly sleeping for sure. Good thing, Irish did replied, and she advised me to take medicine instead. So, I get up from my bed, drink hot chocolate, and take Dolfenal 250mg. Afterwards, I sent myself to sleep, hoping to at least have 30 minutes of good sleep.

At around 2:30AM, Carmina woke me up and told me that it's time to get up. Irish also gave me a call. Having relieved from the cramps, I get up and ate my breakfast - hamburger and hot chocolate. I also gave My Angel a call to wake him up and to tell him that I already took my medication. He told me that we could just not go to the race and simply have another practice jogging at UP Diliman. But, For the Love of Running I told him that I'm already fine. And so we go and meet up at GMA Mini Stop. I never bought any Gatorade or Powerade this time. I wanted My Angel to run without any baggage at hand (except for the camera).

We were early for there were no traffic at EDSA (specifically at Balintawak and Muñoz). When everyone's set to go, we headed on to Fort Bonifacio. We arrived quite early. And so, we positioned ourselves to our respective race categories. The entrance for each category is separate. Before the gun start (actually, there's no gun start, only a bell start, LOL), I told My Angel if we could just walk the whole 5K route for I might not be able to run - I had my dysmenorrhea (which is only suppressed by Dolfenal) and I also had colds and slight fever. He willingly agreed.

At the onset of the 5K race, I jogged lightly. My Angel was surprised and asked me why am I running. I told him that I can still manage to jog; that I'll stop if I can no longer continue. While I was watching my Timex watch, I was able to maintain my slow pace jogging after 10 minutes. And we stopped because we need to rehydrate ourselves. Too bad, it is only water at the booth. After resting my limbs for about 4 minutes, I jogged once more. I am feeling pain whenever I stop jogging (just like the Timex Run 2009). I jogged with the same slow pace until I tire my feet out or until we had to stop for hydration. It feels good that I can really continue jogging at that slow pace and feels like I could complete the race faster.

Running (Do I look sick?)

Walking (Look at my singlet, my Adidas Formotion logo reflects on it)

We reached a hydration booth that offered Gatorade, and so we piled up on the line and have our thirst quenched. Gatorade is really different from that of water. I feel energized after drinking. And so I jog a little more. My Angel asked me if I can still continue despite my condition, and I just answered yes, I can still give more. Seeing the Finish line and looking at the time I already elapsed, I contented myself to the fact that I won't be able to beat my best time. But, as we go nearer the Finish line, I saw that we can beat it. And so, I run as fast as I could in the remaining meters of the route. And happily, I beat my best time (which happens to be the first official run of my Nike LunarGlide⁺). I finished the race at 36 minutes and 51 seconds. (The race result had been released that fast. Kudos!) And I really felt that I can still finish the 5K faster, probably next race.

Out of 830 5k Runners

After crossing the finish line, I was showing my time to My Angel

Time for me to take a photo of the love of my life

Spotted a former office mate (Smart), Collie

MAIDRS Team

LunarGlide mates, LOL!

My Hate Day of the Month did not stop me from doing what I love best (as of the moment). I was able to conquer it, For the Love of Running...