Rop's Reflections

Today turned out a hot one. The highs are hitting 37-38c. Hard to believe it’s mid-November.

Still got the cold. Late stage, hopefully.

Fought the heat and got a run in. Five runs in five days. After short sessions on Monday and Tuesday, the past three days have been pretty good. Sweated loads. All endurance, no speed though. But, at this point, I’m happy with that.

Managed to get in an evening run. Needed to move despite not anywhere near healthy. Feeling hot inside. Face is warm. Body temperature rose due to the cold and the workout. Not a good feeling. Hope the exercise won’t slow down the recovery.

In bed now, thankfully. The work was done. Time to rest. Tomorrow is another day.

Last week went well enough. No run was too long. Just general one-hour runs mostly. Managed to do two runs in Kanchanaburi. It was a nice change of scenery.

This is going to be another light training week. Gonna rest up the calves and knees. There are pains here and there. Nothing too serious.

Got a haircut yesterday. Then we had dinner last night with my relatives at Waterside restaurant. Nice atmosphere with live music and a large pond. Food was all right. I liked the fish dishes.

Not feeling so good today health-wise. Seems like I caught a cold. Runny nose and sore throat. That means I should get a lot of sleep tonight. Hope to recover soon.

Impressive stats from NYC Marathon 2009. It was the biggest marathon ever held in history. 43,475 finishers out of 43,741 starters. That’s 99.4%. Unreal.

In the past two days, the training has been tough. Tight, stiff calves and knees. Gotta stretch more. This weekend I’ll be attending a meeting in Kanchanaburi. Hoping to get in some runs there.

It probably won’t last long, but the first cool breeze of winter came this morning. Because of it, the morning run was very pleasant. If the weather were like this all the time, how nice would it be?

Not logging so many miles now. It’s taper time. Trying to rest enough between runs, so the legs can recover and be ready for next workout. Sleeping lots and eating lots of fruits/vegetable these days. Eating well and resting well are keys to good health. When the body is fresh, it can take on hard workouts. Time for quality over quantity.

So I took it easy today. Just wanted to recover.

Did one run in the morning. Slow and easy. Barely sweated after the run. The weather has become a bit nicer, too. Legs were a bit tight during the day. But no serious pain. Ate two dishes (garlic roasted pork over rice + pad thai) at lunch, and sweet potatoes.

Rested in the evening. Hopefully the body will be fresher tomorrow.

Woke up to catch the late stage of NYC Marathon last night. Meb Keflezighi (USA) won the NYC Marathon 2009. The Americans really dominated the top 10 this year. Four-time Boston Marathon champion Robert Cheruiyot finished second. Ryan Hall came in 4th.

In the women race, Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia won, sprinting away from Ludmila Petrova. Paula Radcliffe ran through pain and finished 4th.

Tulu is 37. Keflezighi is 34. It’s nice to see veteran runners become champions. George Hirsch, 75, ran 4:06:14. That’s an incredible time. What an inspiration.

Got in a long run this morning. Nawamin Park. New Balance shoes. Sunny morning. A big milestone.

I knew it was gonna be hard. I brought a granola bar and a canned sweetened drink along. Put the bar in my pants pocket and the drink on one of the park benches. I started slowly and kept the pace steady. Slow and steady. Ate the granola bar at about the halfway point. Took the drink at about 10 km to go. They helped, I think.

Still, it hurt. The legs and knees mostly. The twisted left ankle had become a non issue. The knees and legs are not as strong as I want them to be. A lot more training is needed.

I was determined to complete it no matter how slow. I need one long run under my belt. This is that one. Fought a hot sun the last half. My neck, arms, and face were crusted with salt during and after the run. Is this really November? It feels like April.

The race will be 10K longer than today’s run. I know it will hurt. But I will try my best to fight through the pain.

Gonna rest now, and enjoy the NYC marathon tonight.

Did a short run this morning to wrap up the month. This has been a great month. 237 miles and 37+ hours of running. Took two days off to rest. The mileage was not as high as July. But July was too big of a jump. It broke me down during August and September. October has been solid, especially the last 3 weeks of it.

This thing isn’t easy. Great amount of patience and perseverance are required to succeed. Just taking one step at a time, through rain, heat, and pain.

Apple came out with the new iMac. Pretty nice. However, one can’t keep getting excited by these external stuff. New gadgets are always coming out, rendering current ones you just bought a few months ago “outdated.” One who is wowed by shiny new stuff will always be chasing after technology. That’s not really a way to happiness.

So it’s finally Friday. Been another good week despite the injury yesterday. Hard runs in a hot week.

Ankle was swollen a bit last night. Didn’t feel much pain during the run this morning though. Also tried to run in the evening but quickly find out that I was hungry. I ate one rice/fish dish, corn, and lots of sweet potatoes. Apparently that wasn’t enough. I can’t run on an empty stomach. No energy. Especially in this blazing hot weather. So I cut the run short. Probably will take it real easy tomorrow. Then will tackle a long run on Sunday.

What I’m looking forward to this weekend: NYC Marathon. Should be an exciting race.