Mere Mortals Can Run

I had gone from not exercising at all to running 10 km in less than 3 months. I don’t think I ran. Maybe a slower version of jog…more like plod.

I was inspired by my two role mortals…oops models (see Role Models blog). Valerie and Irine are both older than me and they run 45 min everyday. When they started, they were also both heavier than I.

I used to read about how Hollywood stars like Teri Hatcher and Jennifer Aniston run to keep in shape, and also the late Princess Diana…remember those famous legs? I wished I could run and in a very secluded part of my brain, I actually wished I could run a marathon, at least once in my life. But of course I hardly entertained the thought. There were excuses aplenty – I get rashes, it’s so painful and uncomfortable to run, I have not found a good sports bra yet. What if I get stitch…

Then when my colleague Huimin asked me to run with her after work, I decided to buy a good sports bra. Then in the park opposite my apartment, I started to jog, plod, whatever. The first few times, I got rashes around my tummy. Then I decided that I had to get into shape fast so that I can jog in the sports bra without my T-shirt. Maybe that will help. Then, to my relief, the rashes went away for good.

I increased in distance, not necessarily speed, starting from 2.6 km to 4.1 km and feeling quite comfortable. Of course, being the braggard that I am, I could boast to all the couch potatoes in my office and beyond every time I hit a further distance. Then Huimin got me to sign up for a 10 km run with her and that became a target to work towards. So I strategized to increase in my distance every Sun while maintaining consistency.

To my surprise I found that my tummy disappeared and a couple of durian-lookalike muscles appeared on the stomach. So that was an incentive to keep at it. Who knows, I could get a 6-pack by the end of the year. Then I tried to take bets on whether I can get a 6-pack tummy…I think I must have struck fear with my progress. There were no takers.

Even now, the first 5 min of jogging is very difficult. But once you get over it, the rest of the distance gets easier.

So I have finally run at least 10 km in a non-competitive part of a marathon and Huimin has not been able to run because she was outstation. After buying the sports bra, we still have not gone jogging together after work. But we’ll see if we make the next 10 km run we are signing up for in Aug.