What matters is the run

 For the past two weeks, I have been running in my more than two years old pair of Saucony Kinvara 10s. They still felt good through several 6ks and a couple of 10ks. I didn't have any issues with them. My feet had no complaints. So while I have been toying with the idea of getting a new pair of lightweight running shoes or a pair of classic racing flats, I thinks I can do well with the shoes that I currently have in my modest collection of five pairs.

Having a new pair of shoes has a way of boosting your performance. You are motivated more than usual to go out there and hit the roads or trails with it. But buying new pairs every now and then can cost a fortune. And shoe prices have skyrocketed tremendously, especially models that carry the new carbon plate a.k.a. "super-fast" technology. For one who has the means, that would be not much of a big deal, but not everyone is in that lucky position. 

In the past two years since this pandemic struck, I have run in this pair of Kinvara 10s purchased in 2019, Nike Rival Fly 2s and Merrell Bare Access Flex which I both got on sale in 2020 and 2021, and shoes given by a friend now working in the UK - Asics Gel 451s and Gel Pulse 11s. This is perhaps the most number of running shoes I have had since I don't know when. I did just fine with a single pair for training and racing most of my running years, with a couple or two almost ran down to tatters. We always have our favorite pair or two, don't we?

I have always relied, too, on Timex Ironman sports watches to track my times since I was introduced to it back in my early racing years several decades ago. I have been through more than three (I guess) until I decided to get myself a Timex Ironman R300 GPS smartwatch last year. I still keep my Timex Ironman 50 lap memory sports watch purchased close to a decade ago (I guess, again). 

The popularity of running has no doubt created a lucrative market for shoe companies and other sports and fitness gadget manufacturers. The latest to cash in are virtual race organizers who definitely make more than a buck with registration fees that are definitely not cheap. 

As simple as it may be as a sport, running can be expensive too if you cannot run with only a single pair of shoes and a pair of comfortable clothing. But isn't that what this is supposed to be all about? Running, the run. It is something you can definitely do even without the fancy shoes and gadgets. It is what matters.

Decades on the road

Last Monday, while on the finishing stretch of a morning 10k run, my second at 66 years old, a motorcycle rider slowly drove beside me, the driver asking me how old I was. He was somewhere between his mid-20's and early 30's by my estimate. Smiling, I told him I was 66 years old. He quipped back: "Bata pa ko gadagan ka na, sir, ba. Lig-on kaayo. (I've seen you running since I was young, sir. Such endurance)."

I was perhaps in my mid- to late-20's when I started running, and have gone on since that time in the mid-80's, except for a couple of years or so that I dabbled more in cycling and run much less. I have been running since my return sometime in 2005-2006.

Many times, commuting on a tricycle when I came home from the city where I worked for about 5 years or so, the driver would ask if I still ran, and tell me how I have been a common sight running along the highway most mornings. Not seeing me on my usual early morning jaunts at that time pethaps made them ask: "What the hell happened to that running guy?"

I can only smile thinking about it.

Other runners I have run with when I started, most of them younger than me, have stopped running. I have run with many others who have picked up the habit over the years. I don't see many of them on the road nowadays. The few that still do seem to be moving faster than me now, but many more have stopped.  My times have slowed down over the years. My 45-minute 10k runs when I was in my mid-50's are now done in over an hour, closer to 2 hours in fact. But I am thankful I can still do it. I can still run. Not many my age here do that.

Now that I have retired from work, and have more time to run and ride, I am doubly grateful. I am blessed, and I will continue to make my runs and my rides my songs of praise. 

1987 (?) in my early 30's.
Running a lap around the North Cotabato Provincial Capitol dirt track
to finish a 21k race during the province's anniversary celebration that year. 

1999 at 44.
Running to the finish of the 16th Davao Finisher's Marathon 26k run.

2000 at 45.

Crossing the finish of the 17th DFM. 

I did a repeat of the previous year's 26k run.

2010 at 55 years old.
At the finish of the 27th Davao Finishers' Marathon 42k.
My official race time: 

4:23:16.

2011
Sprinting to the finish of the 28th Davao Finisher's Marathon 42K.
My official time: 3:52:21,
good for 10th among male finishers.
I was 56 years old.

Reality bites again

 

This is not a post about running; it is a post about NOT running and the frustration that goes with it.

At 65, my body is definitely not what it used to be. I logged what was perhaps the best marathon time I ever ran close to ten years ago when I was 55 one a tough hilly course, a sub-4-hour effort - 3:52:21, which had me break into the list of top ten male finishers. I ran 6 days out of a week's 7 back then, logging an average of 10 kilometers a day and doing 15k's and half-marathon distances on weekends. It seems those days are long gone, simply memories etched in ink on the pages of my logs and in posts on this blog. I do not think they can happen again, though I wish they would.

Since I started running again after the lockdown restrictions last years were lifted, I have been averaging 7 minutes and a half pace per kilometer when I used to do 5 to 5 and a half minutes on average. The distances I ran became shorter, the runs less frequent - 5 days in the week, at times just 4. But even as the mileage dropped, it made itself felt: the bothersome twinge, which at times become immobilizing pain.

Last January, while going for a 10k, I suddenly felt a pain in my left buttock and was forced to stop before I could even hit halfway of the 5k mark. Sciatica aggravated, I thought. I have been feeling some twinge in the sciatic area for a while now, but this was something else. There was a stabbing pain with every step of my left leg; I had no other option but to walk all the way back home.

I tried to run again after resting for a week, but the pain was still there. After several days of rest and stretching routines, it felt better so I tried to do a 2-kilometer jog-walk, walking and jogging for a kilometer and jogging the other kilometer back home. I reminded myself patience pays and to just trust the process.

Over the next few days, I upped my running distance from 2 to 3 and then 5 kilometers. I also graduated from jog-walk combinations to full jogs, all untimed, all slow. In the weeks that followed I was able to log 15, 20 and 25 kilometers of weekly total mileage. I was somewhat elated, though I wished I could go faster. I told myself good things take time.

It seems I may have gone back running too early.

An out-of-town engagement gave me additional rest days which I thought would mean better running when I got back to it again. To my frustration, it was not to be. On May 29, while out for a 6k run, a near-stumble seemed to have over-stretched my butt and thigh muscles again and I was back to finding running a bit bothersome again. this time it caused a pain in the groin area. My planned 6k became a cumbersome 2k jog-walk. 

I am back to square one again, frustrated, but I guess I can blame no one but myself for being the impatient, stubborn old dog that I am. 

A lot of physical changes happen to the human body as we grow older. It does not happen overnight but as time moves on, we feel the effects. I guess one feels more of it at 65 than at 55. Still, at 65, I believe I still have the capacity to run well. It is just a matter of being able to adjust, come up with a routine that is best suited for my age and ability. I am still looking for that. 

Or am I just fooling myself into believing I still have it in me to come up with good runs, good distances, good times?

Frustrated as I may be with what has been happening to me lately, I definitely do not want to give up; not now, not for this stubborn old dog. 

A better year? Hopefully...

A better year? Hopefully...

With the coronavirus pandemic and everything that came with it, I do not think anyone will call 2020 a great year.

It caused lockdowns which affected business, schools, even sports and leisure activities. Plans were waylaid by the pandemic for many. I was looking ahead to running a marathon again this December and maybe a half before that. But this was not to be. The pandemic happened and the restrictions on movement came with the varying degrees of quarantine imposed by the government. Simply put, no running for close to two months.

Even now, there are no races for the running masses. Events are limited to elites and with limited audiences as well. The recent Hakone Ekiden, a big event in Japan, was held on almost empty streets. Thousands used to line the streets to watch the much-awaited long-distance relay race from Tokyo to Hakone and back.

Looking back, I closed 2020 with a 200-kilometer total mileage for December. Since after the restrictions were lifted in May, I logged 748 kilometers until the end of the year. I put in 392 kilometers between January 2 and the start of the lockdowns in March. Despite the close to two months of not running, that's still 1,140 kilometers put in for the year. Not bad, I suppose.

My retirement from work has given me more time for running. I don't run as fast or as long as I did but at 65 years old, to still be able to put in 200 kilometers in a month is something. So, I'd say it's still a fairly good year overall. Like most, I look forward to a better 2021. I hope to run better. Log faster times, longer distances, and be able to race for real again. 

To start off my running this year, I did a slow 10k this morning. It was cold and there was a slight shower. I ran for a little more than an hour. Not bad for a first run.  

My playground awaits!

Running again

Not one of us thought this pandemic would happen. Not one of us had it in our foresights that there would be this novel coronavirus that would take the world and humanity in its frightening clutches. It did and all our plans were waylaid.

I was looking ahead to running a marathon again this December and maybe a half before that. But this was not to be. The pandemic happened and the restrictions on movement came with the varying degrees of quarantine imposed by the government. Simply put, no running for me for close to two months.

The last enrty on the notebook I used as a running log was dated March 25 for a 39-minute 5k. By then I had run a total of 392 kilometers from January 2.

When it was allowed again, I went back to running short distances at slow pace: 13 runs in May, 24 in June with 8k as the longest, 22 in July with a couple of 10k's. August had me logging a total of 93 kilometers (20 runs in all for the month) and my tally for September: 130 kilometers over 21 runs. 

This isn't much I suppose by other runners' reckoning. At 64, closing in on 65, this is perhaps the best I can do following the lockdowns. They are much slower, much shorter, than the ones my younger self logged a number of years ago. But I keep at it, running, because I enjoy it in the weird and seemingly crazy manner runners do. It is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other but difficult and demanding yet very rewarding in the end. As they say: "It is something only those few know. Those who put themselves through pain , but deep down know how good it feels." 

For now, I look forward to another month of runs, and perhaps additional mileage? We'll see.

2019

2019 for me, running wise, was pretty much summed up in this note:

I am running after my old self and I'm apparently having trouble catching up. That frustrates me somehow. I am older by several  years and slower by a good number of minutes than the best running me by far. I am hoping, against hope perhaps, I can still catch up even only for a bit.
 
This is what I have come to realize, and somehow, a little begrudgingly, accepted:

Running in your senior years is challenging, I discovered, even if you have done it -- running regularly -- for decades. Age has a way of catching up with you. You easily run short of breath at the slightest attempt to pick up speed and hold it for a few hundred meters or so. You wish your body could do what you did 10 years ago, but it doesn't respond in the same way it did then. And there are the little aches and pains that need more time to heal than before. Recovery seems to take a little bit more time.

But still being able to do it, to run, is surely a blessing and a gift. It is undoubtedly still an activity that I get a "high" from and enjoy. It is especially so when singular moments of brilliance illuminate your ageing soul and fill it with gladness for what you have just done. Like this particular run, for example:

I was at the last kilometer of my usual weekend 10k one Saturday when a 30ish guy ran beside me and tried to go past. I picked up the pace and stayed with him for a bit before going ahead. He was a good distance behind when I made the turn for home.

My time for that last kilometer was 5:15.45. Not blazing for some, but it was for me. I haven't run that fast in a while for a kilometer. The fact that it was on a downhill also helped. It had me gasping for breath, but it also had me beaming with a smile inside.

I wonder if there could be more days and more fast kilometers like that ahead for me.

So, being the crazy, stubborn old dog that I am, I guess it would still be pretty much the same this year. Me running, and trying to catch a bit, even just a bit, of my old self  and keeping my fingers crossed there would be more of those moments of brilliance. Because I do not think it is time to stop and bid running adieu just yet.

No, not just yet.


P.S. As of this post, I have logged 164 kilometers since the start of the 2020. I'm elated by that.

Saucony and me

Back in the early 80's, when I started running seriously -- going high mileage, looking ahead to, and finally joining races -- I set my eyes on what was then the popular shoes among local fast guys, Sauconys. Though not as fast as they were, I wanted to have a pair of shoes more fitted for running than what I had been wearing on the my feet so far. For one, they would make me feel more like a really serious runner, if not fast. I bought my first pair of Jazz with the triangular lugs on the outsole. They were nice on the feet, snug and cushy. I loved them and ran in them for years. Shoes were more durable then.

The original Saucony Jazz, my first 'serious' running shoes

If I remember right I went through a couple of pairs before trying out another brand.

It was not until 2013 that I wore Sauconys again. I got myself a pair of Virrata while in Manila and immediately ran in them the following morning. The lightness and the barefoot feel were definitely wonderful, but the 5-and-1 running I was doing easily took it's toll on the shoes. I soon had to get myself a pair of shoes, not Sauconys, that would better keep up with the demands of my daily runs.

I did training runs in this pair of Saucony Virratas in 2013

On that same year, I got myself a pair of blue Saucony Type A5s which I used on a number of training runs and an 18-kilometer race where I placed 12th of 170 runners. The super light weight and fast feel of the shoes were really something.

Light and fast, the Saucony Type A5s were on my feet in this 2013 18-kilometer race.

Yes, 6 years after I had my last pair of Sauconys, I am renewing my ties with this great shoe brand. Today I got this pair of blue and black Saucony Kinvara 10s I purchased online. I immediately unboxed it and tried it out - light and comfy for a first impression. The forefoot really felt really roomy. I also like the simple, no frills look. Even now I am looking forward to kilometers of good runs in this new pair, and lot more kilometers of running than what I had in the Virratas and the A5s.I also suppose trying out the A9s this time around isn't such a bad idea.

Thanks for the prompt delivery, by the way, Saucony Philippines.

On my feet soon, Kinvara 10s