2010-34811 September 9, 2012
The Running Experience
The first question that was raised towards me went like this: “Why did you choose running?” The question proposed a lot of sense since there is a lot of PE options present in this university. My answer then holds until now. I answered that I wanted to be a bit sporty and to get way from fatness and near to fitness, and also to ditch laziness. I wanted a sport because I never did almost my entire life. And so I ventured running. Initially, I thought that it was going to be easy, and would entail minimal effort. I was painfully mistaken. To get sporty and ditch laziness was nowhere near easy. There were times, I remember, that I finished last behind everybody, and even times wherein pairs of women get ahead of me, I feel kind of deflated, because I keep on comparing myself with “the other guys.” But now, I view everything differently, Running has helped me visualize setbacks optimistically and see each failure as an opportunity.
Different people have different methods f preparing for a run. Asides from doing our much encouraged “extra run”, I keep myself hydrated before, after and throughout the entire run. Also, and this may be new, I listen to upbeat hip hop music before a run. As a person accustomed to dancing (I took Street Jazz before Running), I get “pumped up” and more ready for a run! Sometimes, although discouraged, I listen to music whilst on a run, but then I have to be more alert which is somehow distracting, but every time I hear a favorite tune, I go faster. Nevertheless, I still tried to run without music and realized listening to ‘thumps’ of my classmates’ running feet isn’t that bad after all. And so I thought ‘thump thump away!’ I hear their pace, I hear mine, I advance, and I slowed in accordance to their ‘thumps.’ In some cases, I even consider hearing ‘thumps’ blissful for my auditory senses. Consequently, I thumped on the two