By Joel B. Belinan
Once an athlete, always an athlete. Stop it and you will start having health problems you seldom had before.
When our movements have been restricted by this virus, our daily athletic or sports routine suddenly turned upside down. While we did home workouts as I said before, these were not enough. There is no substitute to open air workout, or running or jogging.
Actually due to my past schedules with my teammates, I used to run at the Athletic Bowl instead of the open road. For I had to be on schedule at our favorite stable at Burnham Park to assist my teammates in their workouts.
Then the city’s status was improved to General Community Quarantine that allowed running at the park and on roadsides. By the way during the two months of hard lockdown, I gained at least 16 kilos from my usual weight. Thus after almost two years of being contented running at the Athletic Bowl and at the park, I started running at the outskirts of the city again, on the roads that were not busy. As expected, it was really difficult to start running again. After more than a week I got my rhythm and while my pace and endurance were respectively still very slow and low, my body slowly adjusted. And after 45 days of running regularly, I regained my usual strength, and my weight went back to the ideal range.
While I still go to the park once in a while, my routes were more on the outskirts particularly at the western side of the city towards the Tam-awan and Long-long areas. What sustained my running were the much better or fresher environments compared to the always polluted central business district. Running up the top of probably the highest peak on the western part of the city at Upper Pinget and Kalkalan is best. Besides, the peak offers a great view of the downtown area of the city. On many occasions when the sky was clear, it offered a clear view of Mt. Sto. Tomas and Mt. Cabuyao below it. On the western side towards the direction of La Union, the West Philippine Sea and the greeneries in between.
One of my teammates once asked me if I didn’t get bored running on the same route, seeing the same views. I explained that appreciating nature entails a more dynamic mind and eyes. This means that we should not just see the permanent things around but those that appear only temporarily. I cite as example the cloud formations that change almost every few hours while on some occasions there were birds in groups playing and singing in the forested areas or flying along the route. At other times, flowers are in bloom, or the moon is still visible early in the morning with a beautiful rainbow to boot. To attest to such are the numerous photos I captured using my cheap but reliable android cellphone.
Of course there are several diversion routes one can take to avoid getting bored, or one can go further to become stronger or to improve cardiovascular capabilities. To some, running is the loneliest sports, others even call it the sports of the dumb? On the contrary, running might be the most important sports event. In fact, the Olympics was born due to running. In ancient Greece during the crucial battle between the Greeks and the Persians, Greek messengers ran the 42 kilometer distance between the battle field in a place called Marathon and the city of Athens to update the Greek leaders on the battle. Thus the word marathon came to be. Full marathon means running 42 kilometers.
Moreover, almost all sports events use running as part of their cross training for conditioning and to build up strength. Maybe with the exception of chess players, almost every athlete has to periodically run or jog. Combative sports such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, jujitsu, judo, karate, wrestling among others cannot do away with running. The same with basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, etc. Running makes their training complete. Not to mention the numerous health and mental benefits they would gain.
Running is the cheapest sports to be in. You just need ordinary tennis shoes and comfortable shorts or pants and off you can go. As running becomes a hobby and regular routine, then you would appreciate getting those more comfortable running shoes and socks, running shorts or jogging pants. And if you developed the habit of running regularly, then you could say that you have discovered the love of running. **
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