A Happy 3K Run

Thoughts of having an injury really scare me. I had to rest for two full days. Better to be safe than sorry, right? Wednesday, third day after suffering from foot and knee pains, I am raring to run again but wasn't too sure if my foot and knee could take it.

At morning, I packed a jogging pants and a singlet just in case. Really made me feel a true blue runner now! I can't help but want to run. The passion to just go out there and hit the road.

Still, I had to make sure I would not aggravate the pains. So I wrapped the left foot with my boxer's hand wraps. Just around the top and the foot arch with the support from the ankles. But leaving the forefoot and the heels free to move. I extended the wraps upwards to the knees going around the calves. I then secured the wrap with a packaging tape.

I wore jogging pants to cover the not-so-good-looking wraps. I know I wouldn't be able to run as fast as with my Botak racing shorts but what the heck? I just wanted to know if I can run. I wanted to really tell if I could proceed with the 5Km Race for LIFE this Saturday. It's been only 3 days after my last run and I was dying to run already. I am missing the road badly. Period. (This is the part where you shout ADDiCT! :D).

I texted Hon of the plan. She told me to run no longer than 3Km and stop immediately if I feel any soreness or pains. I promised to follow her requests, just let me run. And so with her consent, to Velazquez Park I went after my work at the office.

It feels so great to be back at the road. I love the shoes, the singlet, the road. It's a great great feeling to be able to run again. I will surely remember this day and never forget to be grateful with every running day from now on. Run because I can. Feels great.

When I reached the park and started warming up, boy I wanted to shout in joy! Thank goodness I'm OK. The foot is secured, the knee is protected, run! I did not start the Casio Timer. I was just too happy. After a few hundered meters the sweat began to go out of my skin. I felt warm, I felt good to go. I thought "When I reach the end of the first kilometer loop, I will try to speed up."

And so I did. Pressed the timer and off I go on my second kilometer. Accelerate Jayson! See if the knee will hurt. Feel if the foot will crack. Know if you still has what it takes to go for a 20-minute 5K time on Saturday's race. I was accelerating very very carefully. And with the jogging pants, I could not free my legs to swing higher and longer. Even the shorter faster strides get problematic as the pants rub with my legs and with each other (left part rubbing with the right part of the pants). I felt tired after the first 300 meters. I know I was being cautious and cannot really go all out as much as I wanted to.

At the end of the loop, I was surprised to still finish at 4:18 minutes. Then I took the third kilometer loop as my cool down. No longer than 3Km Hon. (Hehe. I know you will be reading this post and looking up at my running logs.)

I walked my way back to the office and write this post happily. I still have a chance to finish a strong 5K this Saturday. More importantly, I am running again!