Running from scratch

Everyone starts from kilometer zero. This is a fact, as even the fastest and most bemedalled athletes have, at one point, started their running careers from nothing. They may have run hundred of kilometers and broken records, but the fact remains that we all began our journey from that single step.

(image courtesy of Pinoy Fitness)

My running journey started in UPLB's Nihon Koen, a Japanese garden inspired feature built in 2012 from funds donated by Filipinos who got scholarships from Japanese universities. The attraction features a traditional Torii  (Shinto gate or arch), and 125 steps along the shortcut route to the University Health Service infirmary and upper campus buildings.

The challenge of running through those 125 steps made me decide to add to my usual weekly biking regimen my own version of high intensity training: running as fast as I can on the steps going up and down the Nihon Koen. Moreover, from my once-a-week routine, I decided to exercise two out of the three non-working days during weekends (we have no work on Mondays so we always have three days off in our company).

Simultaneously, as I know that my weekly exercises would not be enough for me to lose weight, I also decided to up the ante and exercise one or two more days even during working days. Since I see that many people use the Cultural Center of the Philippines ramp as an uphill/downhill walk/run  route (a colleague once called it the Pambansang treadmill, in a play of the official designation of CCP as Tanghalang Pambansa). So I add myself unto the multitude of physical fitness buffs walking or running around the ramp, either early in the morning or late afternoon to early evening.

Like other running newbies, I started running short distances, 20 meters initially, fifty meters the next weeks, gradually increasing the distance as the days go by. Each distance I achieved I celebrated as a milestone: the first kilometer I ran non-stop, the first two kilometers, and so forth. While at the CCP ramp, I started by running as far as I can on the way up, then walking the rest of the way till I completed one loop and again start running up again. At first, I managed three loops, which I gradually increased to five, then ten after some time.

I weigh about 205 pounds (almost 93 kilos) before I started running religiously (above photo shows my girth when I was that heavy). After a few months, I gradually shed pounds that made my family and colleagues take notice. Once I lost about 20 pounds, my clothes became loose that I started buying shirts and pants in smaller sizes.  Eventually, I lost about 45 pounds in all and my weight stabilized at 160 pounds. But that's already getting ahead of the story.