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Smile While Running

While running this morning at the UP academic oval, there was this guy running in the opposite direction as me, and he was smiling. He wasn't smiling at anyone in particular nor was he with anybody. He was alone, running with a smile on his face. I see a lot of runners smiling, but normally it is because they are with a running partner chatting away. This guy was running alone, like I was.

The first time, I thought it was kind of weird. The second round, I thought, he looked happy, content and relaxed (and probably didn't care if other people thought he was weird), while I thought I was tight, in pain and huffing and puffing a little. So I gave it a try. Well, unlike his obvious grin, I can only make myself do a demure-like, no-teeth-showing, not so obvious smile, but I felt like I was smiling nevertheless. I actually felt better, like everything is ok with the world. Why? I don't know, but I should do this more often.

I couldn't continue smiling without any reason so I thought of some running related reasons to smile.
  • First and foremost is that I am running again after almost a month of laying off running because of plantar fasciitis. But I'm taking it easy. I'm doing the Galloway or run-walk-run method. Although I have made my previous goal of running 30 minutes straight, I don't think I'm doing any of that in the near future. It is better to be run-walk-running than not running at all.
  • I started running (or run-walk-running) again last Saturday, and this morning's run was my third. Unlike last month, after running, I will be limping the rest of the day and won't be able to run the rest of the week because of the pain. Now, after resting and letting it heal for a few weeks, I'm not limping after the run and the rest of the day, and I'm able to run after two days. So far, so good. My foot is relatively fine and I think I can run again this Friday. The rest definitely helped. I also bought a new pair of running shoes, the Nike LunarGlide+, hoping that it will give me the cushioning and stability that I might need. I am also hoping that this run-walk-run thing will prevent future injuries. I'm still not totally pain-free. There is still a little pain in my heel but I'm trying to be very careful and sensitive to the pain. If I feel a little more pain than normal, I ease off immediately.
  • I did something crazy. Yesterday, I signed up for the 5K of the Century Tuna Superbods Run 2010 on Feb. 21. My wife wanted to join the 3K and since I was driving her there anyway, might as well join it. Although I'm not going to do something really crazy like racing the 5K or aiming for an unreasonable time. I'll just do my regular training run-walk-run and finish the 5K.
  • I'm almost sure I will finish the 5K. This morning, I run-walk-ran for around 4.4K (two rounds of the UP academic oval) and walked (my cool-down) around 600 meters more. I hope I do finish the 5K injury free.

Keep smiling!

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