Running your way out of problems.

I have been receiving many sarcastic comments about my weight for the past few years. I don't think it was ever an issue because my weight fluctuates like crazy. But being 5' 6" (in this country I am considered tall) my weight according to the normal Body Mass Index (BMI) range should be around 65kg plus minus 5kgs. I have always been lean - not skinny. So putting on extra few kilos here and there, people can notice it easily. Not many of them are nice kinda people.

But being busy with work and stuff, I hardly had any time to spare for exercising. Or maybe I was just trying to find an excuse for being lazy. Either way, I wasn't getting my dose of exercise for years.

Few months ago, I started running. Owh..only God knew how painful the experience was. I only managed to run for 5 mins on the treadmill. It was so embarrassing because it made me realise that I wasn't as fit as I think I was. I overestimated myself and I felt so low. It felt heavy. I felt heavy.

From there on, I vowed to not give up. I went to the gym again the next day and hopped on the treadmill and tried running again. I forced myself to not stop running until I reach the 1 km mark. It was such a struggle, I ended up with sore muscles for days.

But the one thing I got from it was the satisfaction of reaching a goal. I wanted to run for 1km and I did. It brought a whole new spectrum of realisations.. on the way I think, the way I feel, the way I look at myself and the way I look at others.

Yeap, believe it. I got it all from running.

Every day I will try to outrun myself. From 1km, I push myself just a little bit more until I have reached a point where 3km is a breeze, 5km is how it should be and 10km is an achievement. Every day is still a struggle, but a struggle that I am willing to endure. I have yet to get that "high" all the avid runners are talking about, but since am not really aiming to run a marathon, so I will keep on running at my comfortable pace for now.

Running helps me to stay focus. What else can you do when you are running? You are on your own. Once I have my mp3 player on, I practically zone out everything else. Without pushing yourself, running alone will bore the hell out of you. Run, but with a goal in mind.

I run when am happy, and I go for a long run when I am feeling down.

I no longer depends on medication to treat my stress level. The feeling and satisfaction I get after a good long run beats any sort of medication. You should try it too. Try it slow, and never give up. Because like they say, it takes two weeks for you to notice the changes, 4 weeks for others.

So don't stop.