My fitness journey began around June 2016. Prior to that time, people were noticing how fast I was gaining weight. I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I was content with my body weight which was around 79 kilos. But for a guy with a height of 5’5″, that was overweight. Still, I didn’t care much about it until someone dear to me seriously asked if I had any plans of losing weight. That inquiry alone enabled me to venture into the world of running.
The road to my entry to the world of running was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Not only did I find the strength to continue and maintain discipline in terms of my diet, I would also diligently run in the early morning hours almost every day.
That time, I didn’t even realize that I needed a day or so to rest my leg muscles, so for quite some time, I kept on running each day until a friend suggested I should at least take a day off to allow my leg muscles to recover.
My day used to begin with 5:00 am runs and gradually, I would start running at 4:00 or 4:30 am. Most of these runs were done solo, and I had none of those fancy gadgets nor a proper pair of running shoes.
I did, however, rely on my old playlist. It wasn’t much but i remember increasing my pace as soon as the next motivational song comes on, and then slow down a bit as soon as a slow track would be played. That was my early attempt to improve my running capability.
I then transitioned to using a running app called Runtastic. It has all the basic features to improve running. It also shows progress made for the day. For a few months, I used it as a running diary as Runtastic has features that allows the user to keep notes. Writing about a running activity on a particular day enabled me to improve on my succeeding runs, as I was able to monitor my progress. As the months passed, I started acquiring the proper running gear, and even got myself my first pair of genuine running shoes.
My first major event was the Milo 10-Kilometer Run held October 2016 in Dumaguete. Prior to this, I simply ran because I wanted to be fit. The distance was far less than my daily runs but this was the fastest 10K I had ever run, and my first official race.
After that, I continued with my usual training routine. A couple of months later, a few of my friends from DEA Airsoft team were planning to join the much-acclaimed Cebu City Marathon held in January. Initially, I did not think much about it, to a point that I told myself it was not important that I participate in it.
However, my friends were persistent and eventually, I caved in to their convincing persuasions and so I started training for the 21-kilometer category of the race. Then a good friend, Budo Maquiling, noticed my progress on one of my Facebook posts regarding my running pace, and how I would reach as far as the City Limit on my solo training runs. Budo convinced me further to run instead the full marathon distance of 42 kilometers.
Again, I agreed. So I trained even harder, and all by myself. And that’s how I learned to embrace running as a sport. When inquisitive friends ask why I bother to constantly run, I just tell them running is actually some form of “meditation in motion”.
So from racing 10 kilometers in October 2016, I raced 42 kilometers three months later in January 2017, and finished my first full marathon in 5 hours 25 minutes.
I continued running after that major marathon, and would go mountain biking as well. Until I met an accident riding downhill on my mountain bike in April last year. I fractured my clavicle. It was a convoluted fracture so it was severe. I was made to wear a clavicle strap and an arm support sling.
That accident made me contemplate ending my passion for running and extreme sports all together as my injuries were too severe for me to engage in future sports activities. But again, my very supportive friends assured me I will be alright within two to three weeks. Even my orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Daryl Aplaon, himself a triathlete, was positive about my situation, and even convinced me to join TriONe, the triathletes team in the Province.
I would eventually regain my passion to run again after my mother bought me a cycling jersey from her vacation in Prague. At that critical time, that shirt symbolized hope for me.
And as soon as I felt that my injury was about to heal, and I was able to put on clothes without any assistance, I resumed my morning running routine at a very slow pace. One time in June, or two months after my accident, I ran into a good friend, Irwin Ramas-Uypitching and the rest of the Larga-Biya team, who invited me to join them running.
It was my first time to run with a group.
And from that moment on, I never trained solo — apart from isolated cases when I would be forced to run by myself because of my busy schedule. Since then I became more active in group running, cycling, and even swimming — a sport that was not only very difficult to perform because of my inability to swim at the time, but also because I had always been afraid of the open sea due to my (irrational) fear of sharks and the deep blue waters.
Of course, I have been able to get over these fears, and as of this writing, I am well on my way to becoming a triathlete.
The Cebu City Marathon last month was another major challenge for me. I was able to train regularly prior to December last year but when December came, my training was not only irregular, there were weeks where i was unable to train at all. Worse, I gained some weight because of the holiday feasting.
So when January 2018 came, I hastily prepared for the CCM 2018 with running and training. As if things did not get any worse, I got sick a week before the major race. I was in panic mode. All morale and hope were lost until I approached Maripol Tecson, head of the Dumaguete Adventure Runners & Striders, for help and some tips for my run.
Lo and behold, not only did I complete this year’s Cebu City Marathon, I also beat my old record of 5:25:00 with a time of 4:51:15, shaving at least 35 minutes!
I still continue regularly with training. In fact, I have implemented some sort of a strict diet for myself, and I do make it a point to at least make 15,000 steps per day. At present, I am constantly looking forward to joining more running events. And I shall continue to do so until I am unable to.
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John Barry Nuico teaches college-level history at Silliman University where he graduated with a degree of AB History in 2007. He earned his masters degree also at Silliman in 2011. He is also passionate about playing airsoft. When he is not on the move, he stays put to focus and construct replica ships and model assembly. He is also an amateur collector of Cold War memorabilia such as Vietnam War relics and Soviet related-memorabilia — especially around the time of the Soviet Afghan war.
Author’s email: [email protected]
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