Running....

i first started jogging when i was 14. it was in preparation for my school's annual cross country run. ever since then, i've always had this magnetism of sort for running. i jogged frequently during my teens. i remembered my best 10km was 48minutes when i was 17 years old. when i entered high school, my running became less. when i was in medical school it was even lesser. i ran only sporadically and my weight ballooned. 

after med school i had 6 a months break and i started running again. from a physical fitness stand point of view, i felt great. my resting heart rate was 62/min. 

but once i started work, i fell again to the routine of making excuses for not running. my running became sporadic again. i would be running hard for a month and once im able to run 8km (my psychological barrier) non stop, i ease off the peddle and stopped running for months only to struggle through everything again. 

when i started my district posting i was round and i weighed in at 87kg. i was told i dont look good cause im over weight but i dont really care for such vanity. but when i see ppl in their 20s getting hypertension and soldiers in their 30s getting a heart attack, it spooked me out. my own father had a heart attack in his early 50s and went for a triple by-pass surgery. i told myself im not going to die of a heart attack until my children graduate from college. 

so thats when i started running again. and dammit, it feels good....

there is something special about running. when you run there is this feeling of freedom that grows inside of you. to me running is more of a mental challenge than a physical one. when i run, it just ME against MYSELF.

when you can hear your own heart pounding and laboured breath and every inch of your body shouts out to you to stop, thats when mental strength kicks in. you force every aching muscle and joint in your body to push on and when you finally do reach your target distance, you feel a sense of liberation. of freedom..... 

you feel liberated cause you know you have what it takes to go beyond your own worst enemy....yourself. and that you are not a slave to your own earthly mortal body. it kind of gives you a weird sense of euphoria. i dont know if this is what they call a "runner's high."


running is also a good stress reliever. whenever im bothered or angered by something or when i loose a patient, i go for a long run. its a good outlet to release all those negative energy deep inside you. rather then let rip those pent up negative energy at some innocent loved one, i just run it off.  i found it has helped me cope with my short fuse better.

i read somewhere last year that only 1% of the world's population has completed a full marathon. that was when i decided running a full marathon is one of the few things i want to do before i die. Emil Zatopek (1952 Olympic marathon gold medallist) said, "If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." 42.2km of non stop running is going to be one hell of a mental challenge and i intend to achieve it by 2012.

the Sibu mini marathon was the first open competitive 10km run in my life and i was happy i did it in 1 hour (despite weighing 82kg). next stop is the KL Standard Chartered 10km run on 26th june. hopefully can dip below 50 minutes. 

if everything goes to plan and i stay injury free, planning to finish the half marathon (21.1km) at the Standard Chartered  Singapore Marathon 2011 on 4th December 2011.

"You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." 

George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian.