To run...

5 kilometres. 5000 metres. 500 000 centimetres. 5 000 000 millimetres.

It's not that far, right? I've walked that distance lots of times on the island to get from one area to another. But I've never had the urge to run it and THAT is exactly what I plan to do on May 8th, 2011 in Daegu. Call it my first triumph. Call it my last hurrah, before I leave Korea permanently.
Call it whatever you want, but to me this is HUGE!  I've always been overweight (except for one or two occasions where I chose the "appetite suppressant" route) and I've never been fit.

A year ago I spent 3 weeks in the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia and those 3 weeks made me realize that I needed to start looking after myself.  Being in the hospital is no fun (by any standard) and being in a foreign hospital is even less fun. (And I've still not gotten over the fact that THEY DON'T GIVE YOU JELLY!!)

I needed direction. But first I needed my lungs to heal. After a 2 month vacation in South Africa, I came back to Korea and waited for summer (and an action plan.)

Then my life started going haywire. My dad got diagnosed with cancer, my grandma died, some of my other family members went through tough times, I had problems with some of the moms at my school, some really close friends did some very "Unfriend-like" things and I needed an escape.  It was in this time that  I discovered Shape Magazine's 5km challenge  ( http://www.shapemag.co.za/learn-to-run-5km-2/ ) and decided that this might just be my answer. So I dusted off my running shoes, dragged my lazy butt outside and started running.

I suffered. I complained. I ached. I cramped. I got shin splints. I sweat. I got sick. BUT I also realized that running cleans my head. I was less grumpy, less moody, less irritated. I focussed better and needed less sleep. Wow! Was this what I had been missing all these years?

It's now 6 months later. I stopped running for almost 3 months because I got sick again (Freaking Korean winters), but I'm back and I've started training for my first 5km race.

Last night I timed myself. It took me 48:43 to run / walk / crawl 5 km. I need to do way better than that, but for now I am tremendously proud of myself for actually being able to run 5km without passing out.

"Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it's hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time." -Monte Davis



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