July 2013: Running Madness

July truly was the running month. Also its my birthday month! So yeah. Eating a lot was part of this month's routine. But this was also the month I ran most. Before my first fun run, we trained for 4 days straight running 4 to 5 km/day and rested for 2 days before the race. The night before we loaded up on protein and a bit of carbs to give energy for the race.

We ran the 12k leg of the Los Banos Uphill Challenge. And damn they were not joking about the uphill part. We literally ran (mostly walked) the uphill parts of the race. It was about 5km of uphill roads. I thought I could never finish the race but my friends pushed me to move on the tough parts of the race. But it was mostly will power that drove me on most parts of the race. So far it was my longest and most excruciating run I had. 

July was a blast! I ran 81.7 km according to the Nike+Running app. Still I averaged 9 min 24 sec/km putting a total distance of 204.9k since February. A bit slow for 1k but I'm getting faster. I averaged 9'43"/km last June so I managed to run 19 seconds faster.

Now for the photos!

Showing our colors during practice. 

On the last stretch of the race!(Photo courtesy of http://www.runningphotographers.com/)

Pushing it for the last few meters.(Photo courtesy of http://www.runningphotographers.com/)

Showing off what we accomplished!

UP Los Banos... Conquered!

More challenges? Bring it on!

July 2013 Overview

Weight Log for this month with the new scale!

June 2013: Why now???

12 days into running and I know I was improving. My pace is going up. I'm running longer distances. And then my friend started the fitness program in our class. It was just excruciating. But during the first two sessions I was doing great I think. And I got sick. Like a few of my classmates, I also contracted the flu. I was feeling miserable. I wanted to run! But I can't. I feel like shit. I was in a slump for a few weeks and there are days that I pushed myself to run.

Weight Log until June 19, 2013

Also my shoe was wearing out fast due to the distances and my weight. So I bought new shoes just to ease the workload on my shoes. I should at least alternate two shoes. My birthday was coming up so my parents bought me new shoes. I got the Nike Vomero+ 7 which was also on sale. But I didn't go cheapskate on this one because it was a birthday present and I needed more cushioning on my feet. I wanted a firm ride that won't hurt like hell. Yeah the first few runs on the Lunarforever was giving me shin splints and a massive pain on the foot. But I got used to it eventually. So I expected the same thing with the Vomero. I read a couple of reviews that it was a shitty shoe. But I think this is the BEST running shoe I ever had. Didn't give me pain at all and was cool looking too. I did a few runs with the Vomero but I still felt like shit.

Nike Vomero+ 7

As the month was nearing an end, my health is getting better and I was beginning to run again. My friends and I also signed up for a fun run and we entered the 3k run because it will be my first time and just wanted to check it out. Finally my friends are also getting into running.

I don't have to run the streets of our village alone again. And the good news is I'M BEGINNING TO LOVE RUNNING. =)

This is the end of my journal for now. I will start updating this blog every end of the month to tell you a summary of how my running month went together with a few photos and a graph of how my run went!

June 2013 Overview

May 2013: "The Take Over The Break's Over"

"Baby seasons change but people don't". Again another Fall Out Boy song to describe this month.

So I was in a slump and classes are starting soon. I just wasted a whole summer doing nothing. I had to get back on track. So what I did is made a weekly track of my weight which I started to call "Weigh-in Wednesday". I started the month with 254.2 lbs according to our bathroom scale. This was the month I started playing badminton thanks to our driver/coach who taught me the basics. But still my cardio sucked. I'm easily tired after 2 or 3 games. So I had to improve. This is the month when I started running again.

Weight Log for May 2013

My first run of the month was May 9, 2013. It was a perfect Thursday afternoon. Put on my shoes and started to run. And shit it felt AWFUL. The first few meters was ok. But as I started to go my feet were hurting more and more with each step I took. And I said that's it. I QUIT. The next day I didn't run again. And thought I won't run again ever.

But as days passed, I was improving on my game. But still my cardio sucked.

May 20, 2013. Ok. I had to give this another shot. Put on my shoes. Turned on the app. And off I went. But this time I didn't push it hard. One thing I learned in badminton is that you WILL suck at first. But will improve as days go on. So that's what I did. I made a pace which I can actually do. But still my feet hurt after and my shoes are giving up. But still I managed a 1.77 km run.

My Nike Lunarforever

So the next day I ran again. And the day after that. Until my shoes gave up first. I had to change them. I had to buy new shoes. So with no money and still a student, I managed to persuade mom and dad to buy me new kicks. That's when I bought the Nike Lunarforever. Yeah it's an unknown shoe. But I was a cheapskate and got these on sale. I said it will do the trick. So the day after I bought my shoes, I started to run. And run. And run.

First run with the new kicks

And my love for Nike began.

Overview for May, 2013

April 2013: "Are We Going Up Or Just Going Down?"

The title of this post is taken from the song Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year by Fall Out Boy. Best describes the month of April for me.

Summer is here and still I'm back on my old lazy self again. Yes I did go back to the gym but not as religiously as I did during February so I managed to maintain my weight. But that's all. I just maintained my weight. I wasn't losing any but at least I wasn't gaining any. My shoes are fast wearing out and I was doing little cardio in the gym.

Nothing going on here.

I felt so so. But I had to do something. This just won't cut it.

March 2013: NO. I DID NOT RUN. AT ALL.

March 2013. Exams are on the way for the whole month. By the way, I'm a medicine student. Time is something so precious for me that it should not  be wasted. And time is what I didn't have at that moment. All my time went to studying and school. So March was a bit of a downfall for me. I did not exercise, did not eat right, did not sleep right. This month was a huge slump and started to gain weight. And during this month I gained back 10 of the 20 lbs I lost on the previous month. It just sucked. I was back to my old self again. Change for me made a huge U-turn.

Just a huge blank.

I had to get back on track. I had to get back to my goals.

February 2013: The Fat Kid Starts to Run!!!

On my previous post, I shared to you why I started to lose weight. You must have said to yourself, "But your blog says the fat kid running. So where's the run in that?". So now the fat kid starts to run.

Late January 2013, I finally got my iPhone. Yeah it had cool apps and shit. But as I started to look around the appstore, I stumbled upon this app called "Nike+Running". So I said what the hell is this? Downloaded it. Checked it out. And lo and behold, it tracks your runs via GPS. Plus you could play music in your phone while the app runs. And so I said to myself. Kewl. The next morning I decided to wake up early and checked it out.

February 4, 2013. 5:30 am. I got out of bed. Decided to wear to my run what I wore the previous night. Put on my jacket and my probably 3 year old New Balance shoes. Put on some headphones. And off I went. Official start of my run was 5:54 am. Legs were wobbly even though I've put on a few days on the treadmill. It was the first time in years I ran on the road. And IT FELT LIKE SHIT. It was so different from the treadmill. My feet were hurting faster. My knees were about to give out. And the morning air was just so thick and cold that I think it's crushing my lungs. THIS IS SO DIFFERENT FROM THE GYM. THIS SUCKS. But then at the end of my run, I managed to do 2.49 km in 26:25 with a pace of 10'37"/km. And I said to myself never to do this again. But when I ended my run, the app asked me how I feel. Put on the smiley said it was ok. Asked if I ran on the road, trail or beach so I put on On The Road. And the map of our village appeared with lines of my path. Green for the faster pace and red for the slow ones. Plus you could tag what shoe you wore that time. So I said to myself... KEWL!!!!! THIS SHIT IS AWESOME!!! So I started to run day after day after day with some days as rest days.

                                                   Photo of my first run with the app


This was February. And as the month was nearing its end, shit just got out of hand in school. Exams are just around the corner. So I logged in less and less runs. I ran slower and slower. And my shoe was just about to rip apart due to age and the sudden hard use during this month.

                                             An overview of my runs during February 2013

March is a whole different story. I just started running and was about to hate it all over again. 

The Fat Kid Starts to Lose Weight!!!

This me. Photo taken January 15, 2013

As the title of my blog shows, yeah I am by all standards of the modern world fat. I've been the fat kid next door since I was born. And no I am not ashamed of being fat. In fact I've gotten used to being fat. Always asking for the largest size whenever I shop for clothes. Almost occupying two seats of a three seater on a bus. Eating as much as I want without people staring at me. So yeah. I'm comfortable with who I am.

So why the sudden change? Let me give you first a quick background of how I live my life. I LOVE TO EAT. My family is one who cannot tolerate bad food. So yes for me all the food we cook in our home everyday is delicious. And I am a smoker. I smoke a pack of cigarettes everyday since i was 17. I'm not ashamed of being a smoker. And the best of all I am an iced tea addict since I was in elementary school. I used to drink about 2 to 3 liters of iced tea everyday. And there are days I do not even drink water. Just lots and lots and lots of iced tea. That's how I lived my life for the past 23 years. Now I'm trying to change my ways.

Everyone has a turning point in their lives. Be it a life changing accident, a death of a loved one or maybe a death of love itself. And my turning point for change isn't the time me and my ex girlfriend broke up. But my turning point was when she had found new love with someone else.

January 2013. The new year just rolled around the corner. And I had the worst news of my life. I just found out my ex now has a new boyfriend. I don't want to go into the details so that's that. But it made me think. Was I not good enough? Did I not look good enough? So there I was. In a severe state of depression. I got to do something about myself. And I needed a distraction. So I enrolled in a gym. To prove to her and to all others that I look good. Period. So that's it. That WAS my motivation in life. I HAVE TO LOOK GOOD. I HAVE TO LOOK GREAT. I have to LOOK BETTER than her boyfriend. It's sounds stupid I know. But that's the hard truth. So I started getting fit. I was a whopping 270 lbs on my first weigh-in at the gym. And just like any fat ass on their first day in the gym I SUCKED. I sucked in the treadmill. I sucked doing weights. I'm so tired on the first day that I didn't want to go back. But I did go back. Because I had something to prove.

Days went by. Still had to prove that something to her. I went back to the gym time and again. And I actually started to lose weight. On my first two months in the gym I lost about 20 lbs. But as the days went by, I lost sight of why I came there in the first place. I actually forgotten that I had something to prove. And so with my old motivation gone, I'm just a clueless ass in the gym. But hey I felt GREAT!!! I started to wear my old clothes that didn't fit me before. I can actually run longer and faster! I can lift heavier weights! So I said to myself. To hell with my old motivation. She won't come back to me anymore anyway. I made a permanent mark in my mind. DO THIS FOR YOURSELF AND NOT FOR ANYONE ELSE. Yeah the praises I got that I look better is a bonus. But what matters most is that I FELT GREAT!!! I haven't felt like this in years. In fact I NEVER FELT LIKE THIS MY ENTIRE LIFE. From that day on I lost weight for my health and general well being. Yeah it sounds cheesy and corny. And again. That is my truth. So I started this online journal to keep track of what I feel during my weight loss. I'm now at 220 lbs and losing more. And if you ask how I feel now about my ex? We're friends. I lost all the hate I had for her. And I hope she feels the same way too. Because living healthy starts within. So I got rid of all the hate I have inside me. I don't just want to be physically fit but also I want to be mentally and emotionally as well.

The lesson here is you find new goals and motivations everyday. Your first motivation may not be good but as you go along with life you discover yourself and actually uncover the right reasons for the way you live your life.