THE BEGINNER

I can say I was a 'religious' runner when I was young (I am 40 now). I stopped running 'religiously' after graduating from UBD in 1992. This was because my teaching career demanded most of my time that I ignored my passion. At the same time I gradually gained weight especially after I got married. From 70kg (1992), I gained up to 92kg (1998). The turning point was when my weight reached up to 102kg after the birth of my second daughter in 1998. I signed up at JPMC gym and has become a member until now. In one year time after signing up I managed to lose about 30kg. That was a hard work which comprises of running on the treadmill starting with gradual walking at 6km per hour. Few months after that I managed to run 9.0km per hour (logging 12 to 15km per day). After a year signing up, I managed to improve my speed up to 12.5km per hour. Somehow I only managed to maintain to running drive until the year 2002. After that year the will power somehow diminished and at the same time I gained back up to 80kg.

Things worsen, in 1995 when I did my master for one year. For this one whole stressful year, I negelcted my health and gained back up to 88kg. I started running again early this year but I was not able to do it religiously due to my back pain. I went for massages (traditional as well as reflexology) but to no avail the relief was only temporary. Because of this back pain, running became impossible. So most of the time at the gym, I only used the body trek and the precor machines and sometimes brisk walking on the treadmill. It was very frustrating for not being able to do something that I love to do.

Early this month (Decemeber), I came across an advertisment about an alternative treatment to back pain in the bulletin. I tried and now I am recovering. Together with this treatment, I now practices proper stretching and for one week now I am back to running again. The following was my progress:

30/12/2006 - 10K/65 minutes/9.1km per hr for the first 8km - up gradually to 11.0km per
hr for the last 2km (JPMC)
29/12/2006 - 10K/68 minutes/9.0km per hr for the first 9km - up gradually to 11.0km per
hr for the las 1km (JPMC)
28/12/2006 - 10K/70 minutes/8.8km per hr for the first 8km - up gradually to 10.5km per
hr for the las 2km (JPMC)
27/12/2006 - 10K/71 minutes/8.7km per hr for the first 9km - up gradually to 10.5km per
hr for the last 1km (JPMC)
26/12/2006 - 10K/73 minutes/8.5km per hr for the first 9km - up gradually to 10km per
hr for the last 1km (JPMC)
25/12/2006 - 10K (25 laps)/82 minutes at Padang Kebajikan
24/12/2006 - 10K (25 laps) (+ brisk walking)/95 minutes at Padang Kebajikan
23/12/2006 - 8 laps with brisk walking at Padang Kebajikan