Certified running addict. Now I know the symptoms of being addicted to something, beyond reason.
It was raining when I came home last Friday. I had a run practice plan in mind and I decided that not even the rain will stop me to execute what I had planned to do. It (the rain) already did stop me the previous day. I cannot afford to make it too successful in messing up my regular weekly runs. It just cannot be that way.
Amid the drizzling night sky and my wondering landlady (“what is this girl doing? it’s raining and she’s still running?!”), I changed to my running clothes and began walking to go to UP acad oval. On my way home from office, my usual running buddy, Dree (who was on her way to Pampanga with her Dad), already texted me that the rain was pouring rather harder and that she barely saw any jogger/ runner that night. I swear, with this text message and the weather condition that night, I should have had more than enough excuses to not push through with my running plan that night and just opt for a longer time horizontal training (a.k.a. “sleep”). To quote part of Dree’s SMS to me. “Cathy,… the campus is awfully quiet tonight…” Hmm, medyo horror pa ata dating sa kin nun ah!…
But my feet and legs were itching to run. And I just decided to give in. By the time I got off the UP Ikot jeep, the rain had already stopped and I felt the heavens had just decided to give me a good run that night. I finished two rounds – heck, that was 5k! – and realized that there were just about five other runners traversing the acad oval route that night. It wasn’t exactly “awfully quiet” as there was a mini-concert infront of AS building and there were students walking along that side of the acad oval. I suspect Dree wasn’t able to notice it as she emerged from her dorm in Sanggumay and just had to pass by the opposite side of the oval.
I tried to time my two rounds of run and I figure myself to have finished rather longer at about 40 minutes. I wasn’t even able to sustain a continuous run routine as I hardly gasped for breath after one round. To make things worse, I think I experienced my-first-ever-cramp-while-running (it was awfully bad!) so I didn’t have a choice but to slow down.
As I walked back home, I was filled with thoughts of how I have turned out as a certified running addict. Upon entering my room, I immediately took out my camera and got for myself a picture in my drenched shirt and pants, and my running shoes. ‘Eto ang adik sa takbo!
Whoever invented the self-timer technology in digicams is a genius for sure.
