Welcome to der Family : PACEMAKERS #31

OMG! I am going to be featured on Ronnie’s blog! Looks like my constant hounding the poor guy is yielding results after all! LOL! Anyway, Ronnie’s invite to join his “family” came out of the blue and a total surprise to me and of course, I said yes – who wouldn’t, right?

Running has always been part of my overall wellness and health programme (ok, that sounds űber cheesy!) – it was just something I did. Maybe not in school but definitely since university. So I definitely don’t fit the profile of a typical runner who took up the sport to lose weight or address a lifestyle illness. I have only been training almost exclusively on treadmills (a.k.a. dreadmills) until I joined Ronnie’s team in mid 2009. Since then, there were only twice I stepped onto treadmills and on both occasions, during a vacation in a place I wasn’t familiar with. From Wednesday’s weekly runs with the team, I’ve joined one of the guys from the team during their other weekday or weekend runs.

This was also about the time I started participating in races, a few here and there. Training with Ronnie and his team has helped me move from a “back of the pack” to the “middle of pack”; nope, don’t think I’ll move any further front than this and it’s ok (I know my limits!). I have completed various distances, mostly shorter ones. At the moment, there isn’t really a desire or passion to do longer distances and there’s always the time and commitment required for training for these distances. Of course, these words may just come back to haunt me especially now that it’s on the blog.

Again, running is something I do for recreation/fun; I still have a day job although we all wish otherwise! I don’t run as religiously as some of the guys – it could be as little as twice a week to maybe, 4. I cross train on the other days – weight training about 3 times a week, cross training on the elliptical on the days I don’t run, yoga about 5-6 times a week and occasionally, pole dance.

I took a few hiatus from running – when I was abroad; when my nerves were blocked and I couldn’t feel the ground; and when I suffered a major injury (nope, not willing to talk about it in a public forum). Despite this injury (or maybe because of it), I made the move to transition to minimalist footwear running and it’s been close to a year since I started pounding in the Vibrams. I’m using the Bikilas for races and the KSO as the workhorse although I’m beginning to downgrade the Bikilas for casual walkabouts in malls, shops etc. Transitioning from a fully shod footwear to minimalist footwear has not been easy and it took me almost 2 months to be able to run up to 7km but the payoffs have been tremendous – a lighter feel and a better running gait (then again, this could all be in the mind).

A lot of peeps are surprised to find out that I’m vegan and are able to run and train as I do. It’s no rocket science and as long as you’re fueling your body with the necessary nutrients, there’s nothing to stop you from running, training or going about your life. That and staying away from the usual vices. Oh ok, perhaps an indulgence once in a while.

The key takeaway I have learnt is not about winning or achieving a certain timing (Ronnie will beg to differ naturally!). It is about the camaraderie with fellow runners whether during training runs or races and lasting friendships built. I’m blessed to have met with so many runners, especially my training partners who are selfless and would give up the opportunity to run their pace to accompany me at my tortoise pace. There is also the perseverance when it’s gets tough
(look, it’s going to hurt at some point during a run or race) or sitting out an injury and discipline to take to training.

Brought 2u by Wong Sue Ling @ PM31
Email/fb : suelingwong@gmail.com