On January 20, 2013, I checked one thing off my bucket list. I ran in a Fun Run. Haha! I wouldn't call it a "marathon" because one of the first things I learned as a beginner was that a marathon is a 42 km run, which would make 21 km a half-marathon and my humble 5 km... nothing! LOL.

I started jogging last November because I got worried about not sweating too much, it's not normal anymore! When temperature gets too high, my body just gets too hot. I still don't break a sweat but if you hold my hand, you'll wonder if I have a fever or something. And then I'll end up nose bleeding. So yeah. I figured I have to help my body too. There's no gym near our house with a decent instructor (at least, not that I know of) and I don't enjoy pulling some weights anymore. So what I did was buy a decent--and cheap enough running shoes and googled some running/jogging tips for beginners. I am still not comfortable with the term "running" because if ever Zombies invades the world and try to eat everyone's brains, my "running" pace will get what's left of my brain eaten. But what the heck! Okay, running.

I didn't enjoy running at first but I really pushed myself to run as much as I can to make it a habit because I know I just have to. I am not even running regularly yet when my good friend, Alison texted me one day asking if I want to join Run 711 so I was really hesitant to say yes. I mean, joining a decent running event has been a dream of mine but I didn't plan for it to be this soon. But my dear ole' friend texted me the registration details and we were registered in a matter of minutes. When I got the email confirming our registration I thought: What the hell was I thinking?!

Initially, I was really thinking of flaking and just paying Alison the registration fee. Yes, I was that scared. I was scared of passing out in the middle of the run! Aside from that, I wanted to do a 3k first just to test the waters---and Ali registered me to a 5k.

Come race day I was half excited and still nervous of passing out mid-race but I looked at my fellow runners. You can just inhale the energy coming from everyone!

Then the race started and I was starting to get disappointed with myself. The first few minutes I felt road suddenly became wider and all I could think of was how the other runners are passing by me while I was so ready to WALK the rest of the race! Haha.

On the 2nd kilometer I noticed other runners slowing down and that's when I reminded myself that I have my own pace and that the reason I joined the run was to prove to myself that I can--not to Ali (who is by the way the fastest runner I know), not to my brother who's skeptical of me running and certainly not to my fellow runners but to myself. :)

From there I found myself picking up pace and actually running the rest of it overtaking other runners as well.  Upon making a u-turn on the 5km turn over, the run felt easier. I may sound dramatic but the last few kilometers, I was just smiling and staring at the beautiful, cloudy blue sky. I was literally thanking God of the gift of good health, that I can run and most especially that I am about to finish my first 5km run.

The last half mile Paramore's "That's What You Get (When you let your heart win)" played on my mp3. That was the exact moment I saw the finish line. Oh what a joy! I was just so happy to prove to myself that I can. When the part of the song went, "..Why do we like to hurt so much?" I was shaking my head and asked myself: "Yeah, why?" and smiled. Maybe really am a masochist. Maybe because the pain makes me feel alive. And as I crossed the finish line, man did I really feel alive! Now I know what runner's high is. :)

So here I am surfing the web for the next fun run. Maybe I'll end up doing a 10 km soon. Besides, I learned running's mutually beneficial since you'll be able to help a charity a Fun Run's supporting and you get to be healthy by running. Plus those freebies don't hurt at all. So I thank my dear friend Ali for not giving me a chance to back out (because I could have!) and for all the pep talks--kahit minsan parang bola lang. :)