running running running

This post comes as a direct result of my mother.  “Robin, when are you going to blog again?  Maybe your next one will be about running?”  Well, I guess this story is going to be one about running, and by extension fitness.  I suppose some exposition is needed here in order for this journey to really make sense.

For many of you, this may be the first time that you are hearing of this part of my life and my, errr, big change.  I guess I’ve kept it rather quiet to the outside world.  I suppose I felt as though it is my business and my journey, and although other people could provide support, I found enough motivation within myself to keep going.  That being said, I have some friends who are doing some really incredible things in terms of their health and fitness and they have been documenting their accomplishments online and publicly.  I really admire them for doing that.  I read their blogs and steal a few recipes or whatnot.  But I never wanted broadcast my own journey until now.  I think part of that is because it is finally real and I have achieved something worth speaking about.

In August 2011, I completed my contract working at Durban Girls High School and moved to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to write my dissertation.  This was a long and terrible process that involved sitting in the same room all day, only emerging for food, drink, and the toilet.  It was during this time that I made a commitment to being active.  I knew that I would likely go absolutely crazy if I did not engage in something physical every day.  So, I joined a gym.

Stu and I went to the gym rather religiously for those months we were living in PMB together.  I attended Pilates, spinning, and aerobics classes in addition to general exercise at the gym.  Stu and I continued to play Ultimate Frisbee, but also took up squash more seriously, and dabbled in swimming and running.

Ahhh, running.  I’ve always said that I hate running.  Perhaps this stems from my various knee injuries during my early teenage years.  Exposition: For a long while, running, climbing stairs, riding bicycles, and often even walking was incredibly painful.  This was in grade 9, when we were forced to run a mile every day in PE class—or we would fail—seriously how awful is that!  For fear of any grade less than an A, I ran, in pain, every day.  Perhaps my hatred of running comes from here?

But there I was, in PMB attempting to take up running as a form of exercise.  To be honest, I did kind of hate it.  But I kept going.  I would often run with Stuart, who is so much faster than I am, but generous enough to keep pace with me sometimes too.  From little runs around the block, I soon moved to longer runs with my friend Robyn.  Once, she and I ran 7kms from her house to a local game reserve.  I must admit it was very rewarding to run with zebras for the last kilometer!

When Stuart and I visited the United States, we signed up for two races.  1. A 7k trail run, and 2. The Krispy Kreme Challenge.  Now, if you haven’t heard of the Krispy Kreme Challenge, I will break it down for you quickly.  You run 2.5 miles (4k), eat 12 donuts, and run 2.5 miles (4k) back, in under one hour.  It is a little ridiculous.

So, I started training for these races.  I would run a few times a week in the local park near my house.  It was a real struggle on most days to run, I’ll admit.  But, I ran the 7k in something like 47 minutes, and completed the Krispy Kreme Challenge in less than one hour, except without eating 8 of the donuts.

Now, here I am in Korea.  Keeping fit in Korea is different to the States or even South Africa.  As a vegetarian, the food options available to me are limited and often do not contain the various vitamins, minerals, and proteins that I need.  School lunches are really the cause of this.  Lunches are provided by the school, and, due to social norms and cultural expectations, I am required to eat these lunches.  Usually, this means that my midday sustenance included rice, kimchi, and maybe a vegetable if I am lucky.  Needless to say, this was not sufficient food for me, and I found myself losing weight and energy.  (Until today!  Today was my first day not eating school lunches and it was glorious!  I looked at my salad with multiple types of lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, cucumber, orange peppers, lentils, cranberries, gogi berries, sprouts, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds and was glad I was not eating the bland colorless food that my co-workers were.  I was able to negotiate out of school lunches because of my running… keep reading.)

Additionally, gyms are scarce.  If you are lucky enough to find one and want to attend, you have to commit a large portion of your monthly paycheck to your fees.  When I arrived, there was no suitable gym (read: no gym) in my area.  I bought some free weights, a yoga mat, and one of those big gym balls and decided that I would take matters into my own hands.  That being said, I knew that I would eventually fail, because I do much better when I am motivated by classes.

Anyway, I realized that my only real way to stay fit and active was to run.  Luckily, Stu and I live quite close to a long river that runs throughout Daejeon, providing ample running paths.  So, I kept running.  I soon realized that the various bridges that cross the river are spaced at roughly 1-mile intervals, which was great for knowing, more or less, my distances.  Not that I was running much more than 2 miles when I picked up running again in Korea.  I will admit to a nearly 2 month fitness hiatus as Stu and I settled into our new lives in Daejeon.

In March, I started attending yoga classes.  The lady who runs the classes is English, so my practice is much improved since I know what is going on (my Korean is still atrocious)!  She is also in charge of the Daejeon Diablos Running Club.  Through her, I connected with the group on Facebook and started to get notices about upcoming runs.  I decided to sign up for a 5km run in Daejeon in late April.

I actively trained for this run.  I made sure I was committed to it.  On race day, I pulled out a 26:30 time.  I started the race quite fast—I was running with a friend, who I soon realized was a lot quicker than me—and therefore really slowed down between kilometers 2.5 and 4.5.  I like to sprint the last bit of a race, to finish strong through.  I’m just glad I had the energy to do so!

After the 5k

 However, the day before the race, I went to the housewarming party of a friend.  She had lived in Korea before, so her friends from all over the country arrived to sit by the river and have a picnic.  Conversation turned to vegetarianism / veganism and fitness; an excellent topic!  As it turned out, a lot of the girls were dabbling with various levels of vegetarianism and running.  One girl pulled out the biggest statement possible, “I want to be a vegan and run a marathon.”  BOOM!  It was out there.  The ultimate challenge.  She had committed to a 6-month marathon training program in the hopes that she could run 26 miles during her 26^th year.

Gosh.  I’m 26.  I’m a vegetarian.  I could do this…

So, on the eve of my first 5k in South Korea, I mentally committed myself to running a marathon in Korea in 6 months time.

I joined the training program, printed out the schedule, and hung it on my fridge.  I joined the Facebook support group that the girls made to keep each other on track.  I cleared my schedule for long mornings and evenings of running.

And then I started running.  And running. And running.  The program starts out fairly easily: Running 2-4 days per week, 2-4 miles each day.  I was already running 4 miles comfortably before officially starting the program, so it was easy to jump in.

I signed up for a 10k race on June 3^rd (hence my writing today, on June 4^th) and set that as a major goal in my training.  Luckily, it was right on track with where I was meant to be with the program.

On the day of the 10k, I’ll admit that I was nervous.  The longest distance to date that I had run continuously was 7k (the trail run in January).  The Krispy Kreme Challenge was 8k, but I did stop and rest (and eat) for 10 minutes in between.  I was meant to run 5 miles for training last week, but I was sick and therefore didn’t.  Somehow, that made me nervous.  Increasing my distance by over two miles in one run seemed a bit scary for me.

Races in Korea are funny events, quite honestly.  Thousands and thousands of people run.  Koreans don’t like to be touched by the sun, so often they run in long pants, long shirts, and full hats.  For the race yesterday, we had all been given matching shirts, so most people were wearing those as well.  Before the race starts, there are performances on a big stage and a group warm-up.  Honestly, it is quite a comic event.

When the gun went off yesterday, I hoped I was ready.  I was not sure.  Those first few steps were the worst.  It takes me a few hundred meters to get into my stride and it is always a mental battle to get to the point where I can be in stride.  I made a playlist to help me along in the race—I included such motivational tunes as Bon Jovi, Livin’ on a Prayer, which played at the 5k marker (Oh, we’re halfway there, oo-oh! Living on a prayer~).  Somewhere between 1k and 2k, I figured I could do this thing.

That was before the hills.

Daejeon is a flat flat city, at least where I live.  This course had some hills.  Objectively, they aren’t too hectic, but, when you are used to running flat courses, and the sun is beating down on you at over 80*F, the hills really suck it out of you!

At the halfway point, I like to feel like I could totally take on the next half, no problem.  At this halfway point, I was feeling like it would be a struggle.  I took joy at 7k, when I realized that my next step would take me further than I had ever run before.  At about 8k, I really didn’t care anymore and wanted to stop.  Upon seeing the 9k marker, I thought that maybe I could do this after all, and I sped up on the last downhill.

With the finish line in sight, I broke into a full sprint and raced the Korean guy next to me.  We crossed the line laughing with each other.

After the 10k

 My official time was 60:11.  Oh, those damn 11 seconds!  I wanted so desperately to finish less than 60 minutes, but I guess 60:11 will have to do.  I joked that it was my personal best time—technically it was, since I had never run a 10k before.

So, today, on June 4^th, my personal best times are:

5k: 26:30

10k: 60:11

I wonder what my half marathon time will be?  When I am ready to run it, I hope it will be in less than 2 hours.  Watch me get 2:00:11.

Anyway, I will continue training throughout the summer, but likely not run another race for a while.  The reason for that is the races tend to start at 9am, when it is already blisteringly hot.  Honestly, I’d rather run at 6am, thank you very much, because I won’t die of heat stroke.

August 2011 to June 2012.  A total lifestyle change.  I’ve added in loads of exercise, and I’ve also become more aware of my diet and what I am putting into my body.  I’ve increased my protein intake through lots of lentils, beans, tofu, eggs, and protein powder.  I’ve ensured that I am getting my servings of fruits and vegetables every day.  When I started this fitness adventure, I did use a calorie counter and pay close attention to the quantities of what I ate.  Now, I eat when I am hungry and just ensure that I am putting good, whole things into my body.

So, what has all this done to my body, you ask?  Well, I’ve kept a spreadsheet, actually, so I can tell you.

July 2011

August 25, 2011 (This was about 2 weeks into my fitness and food overhaul)

Weight: 74 kg (163 lbs)

% Body Fat: 36%

June 4, 2012

Weight: 58.5 kg (129 lbs)

 % Body Fat: 23%

May 2012

In other words, I lost over 15kgs (nearly 35 pounds), and 13% body fat.   I went from an obese body fat percentage to one classified as having fitness.  I don't have good before and after photos, but you can kind of see it in these pictures.

So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about things!  I have lots more energy (good for my running!).  I fit into my clothes from high school.  I am the same size now as I was in high school.  And I suppose that is quite nice!

As I move forward, I am not looking to lose any more weight, although I was not really looking to lose weight in the first place, just to get fit.  As I run, I know my fitness will continue to improve and this excites me!  Ultimate Frisbee season will be starting up soon, and I know that all this running is going to make a huge difference on the field—Yay!  (Stuart and I will be playing on the Daejeon team this round, thank goodness!)

Anyway, that is the story of my running and fitness adventures.  Next up will be some stories of my travel adventures. :)