Saturday, October 27, 2007

8k

My history with running goes back to the 6th grade. For some strange reason, I decided to join the track team. On the team we could choose whatever event we wanted to compete in. I chose the 100 meter dash because it involved the least amount of running. I was, however, not very fast and always came well in last place. I didn't stay on the track team very long and didn't do much running after that point.

Fast forward to Jr. High. As I'm sure most of you can relate, one of the painful transitions from elementary school to Jr. High was gym. From what I can recall, elementary school gym class pretty much consisted of lifting up and running underneath that giant parachute thingy and the occasional kickball. I think we all got more exercise at recess than at gym. Jr. High gym, however, was a different story: Fun runs on Monday and lines on Friday. "Fun Runs" were less than a mile long, but felt like hell. I was hardly ever able to run the entire thing. In the 9th grade, tired of never completing the entire run, non-stop, I decided to get serious about it and try harder. I was eventually able to run the entire thing, and felt great about my accomplishment.

The summer after 9th grade (or maybe 10th... my memory is fuzzy), I decided to take on running as a challenge. I easily worked my way up to 2 miles, then 3, averaging out a typical run at 4 miles. I competed in a 5k and eventually ran a 10k as well. I was truly "into" running. I generally looked forward to my runs, enjoyed a bit of runner's high, subscribed to Runner's World, the works. My Junior year in high school, I joined the Cross Country team. I was, without a doubt, the slowest guy on the team...and probably slower than half the girls. Racing all out on these 2.5 - 3 mile courses through the woods was killer, but I tried my best... probably tried too hard. I easily got shin splints and and at the end of one of my races, I noticed a sharp pain in my lower right leg. I told my coach, who gave me the brilliant advice all coaches give: "walk it off." The next day or two, still in pain I went to the doctor who diagnosed a stress fracture.

The result of over-training, a stress fracture is not a complete break, but a hairline fracture in the bone. I was ordered on crutches for the next several weeks, and of course running was out of the question for quite a while. This was tough because I really did like running, as bad as I was at it. I was out of running for the rest of the cross country season. I was determined to get back on the road, though, as I had already committed myself to running the Seattle Half Marathon in November of that year. I didn't really have the appropriate time to train properly, but I gave it my best. The pain in my leg was somewhat reoccurring. I never really did the leg rehabilitation exercises the doctor gave me to do, so one leg was a little weaker than the other. Come race day, however, I was ready to go. It was tough, but I was able to run the entire 13.1 miles, slower than I planned, but completed it, nevertheless. It still stands out as own of my proudest accomplishments. However, my running pretty much stopped after crossing that finish line.

My first couple of attempts at running again just ended in frustration with pain in my leg. I put away my running shoes for many years, as I got involved in other hobbies. Years passed, the pounds slowly added on and I made several half-assed efforts to get back into running. I was usually not able to get over 20-25 minutes of running and quickly gave up.

The funny thing is, for the past 3 or 4 years, I've been a fairly regular gym-goer, sticking to walking on the treadmill or cross-trainer and doing a few weights...and, of course, seeing no progress in weight loss as I generally continued eating whatever I wanted, with a couple of diets thrown in the mix here and there. I realize it sometimes surprising for people to hear that I'm trying to lose weight. I generally wear my weight well...in clothes at least. With my shirt off, there's no argument that I could stand to lose a few lbs.

Earlier this year, Beth, in her own battle against the bulge, decided to take up running. Whenever I hear about someone taking up running, I instantly become the expert: "I know all about that; I've read the books; I know how it's done; I've run a half marathon!" It's been 10 years since I've done any running to speak of and yet I was still living off of accomplishments I wasn't even close to being able to repeat. With Beth's running efforts I was quickly amazed at how fast she progressed, easily breaking through barriers in distance and speed that had kept my previous come-back attempts at bay. I realized that I needed to get back in the game and not be such a pussy about putting in the necessary effort. It worked. It was tough, but I was able to increase my running time past previous efforts. I was generally conservative about increases in running times, but always pushed through to complete what I had planned for myself.

As this took place mostly over the late spring and summertime...and this is Hong Kong, my runs took place all at the gym on the treadmill. It is quite hot and humid in Hong Kong and generally difficult to find easily accessible running routes. In late July we had a trip to Seattle planned and Beth and I thought it would be a fun idea to run in a local race while there. We set our sights on the Seafair Torchlight 8k run. I focused my training on being able to run that distance...on the treadmill. I didn't quite achieve that, but I came close, figured it wouldn't be too difficult to eek out the extra distance required. I was wrong. Running only on the treadmill poorly prepared me for the realities of running outdoors. I was only able to run about half the distance. And that wasn't even non-stop. I ran about the first 20 minutes and then a couple short runs over the rest of the race. It was a discouraging reflection that perhaps I hadn't made as much progress as I had thought.

I took a couple of weeks off of running when we got back to Hong Kong. I decided to start over with my training. I had previously been running fairly slowing, about 8.3 km/h on treadmill (I'll let you do the math on that). I was determined that I was going to run 10 minute miles. I started over at that speed and slowly worked my mileage up. As the weather was starting to improve, I decided I had to start doing some of my runs outdoors. As mentioned previously, I was recently able to do about 4 miles outdoors. I told myself I was going to run outside every Saturday, with treadmill runs during the week at the gym. Last weekend was a little too busy, so I didn't get out during the daylight, so just did a late night run at the gym. Yesterday, I was determined to get back on track. I decided to run at Bowen Road, Hong Kong's most famous running route. It starts in the mid-levels area and is popular with HK's generally wealthy expats. It's closed to cars and offers great views of the island and is mostly well-shaded by trees. It's 4k each way and has distance markers along the route. Although it was difficult towards the end and I did get slightly turned around at one point, I was able to complete the entire 8k (4.96 miles) in 50 minutes, 13 seconds. I think I'll now be able to handle that Seafair 8k next year if I'm in town! :)

I'm no longer resting on the pride of my previous accomplishments. I'll take that half-marathon and double it to a full marathon, one year from now. (more or less, subject to race availability!)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

AWESOME!!! We'll join you for Seafair, if you're in town.

Congratulations, this is such a huge milestone.

Cam-Fu said...

That's awesome. I haven't had a chance to go running since we've made it back to F-Dub because I'm so exhausted from the drive up. However, I'm hoping to participate in more runs around here.

What are you doing for dieting? Would like to know.

Nick said...

For dieting, I'm doing calorie counting, trying to stick to 1500 per day. It's pretty much the equivalent in calories that weight watchers recommends for my weight in their point system. I'm more liberal during the weekends, but find that if I don't at least count the calories its very easy to undo most of the weeks work.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah! I totally remember those days! The "fun run" and lines. Yeah, we were defintely worked really hard, especially for 7th-9th graders. =) I also find myself living off old accomplishments that I would not be able to do now if I my life depended on it. =)

Thanks for the trip down memory lane and the updates about how well you are progressing in this area. That is so awesome! Keep up the great job! =)

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, the above "Anonymous" comment was me, Travis! You might have figuered that but wanted to make sure you knew and didn't spend the next day trying to figure out which junior high friend could have been behind such an interesting post.
Trav