Goal! Discovering My Pace in 2012

It's that time of the year again when many people start setting targets for their next 12 months. I find it amazing how the coming of a new year - that tiny change in the calendar that results to a number of date typo errors - can kindle feelings of renewal or rebirth, just as a little match stick can ignite fireworks that signal the beginning of the festivities with a BANG!

I thank God for my 2011 and the important lessons I learned from that year. This year, if I'll do something different, it would be to sharpen the proverbial saw. Take my time. Reflect. Find my pace. Then reach my goal!

It is very critical for a runner to know his pace, not exclusively, but especially for long-distance races.

• You go out too slow >> you get left behind, you bore yourself senseless, you regret not pushing a little bit more.
• You start out too fast >> you burn out, you faint, you finish lazily (if you finish at all).

These, I must admit, have happened to me more than they should have. Many times I tend to have "Low EQ" in running. When I feel I have energy, I run so hard I have tears in my eyes, but then I get cramps and I have to walk-slow run the rest of the distance (and I am only 1/3 of the way through).

It is important to know what pace you can keep : some runners like maintaining it at constant high-speed (between 4 to 5 min/km, this is high for me), some like it dynamic like run-walk. Whatever your case, you should determine that during training.

I'm slowly building up on my mileage and pace again this year. I figured I could do at least 10K per week, so maybe I'll target 520K for the year. :D It's not as big time as I hoped 2 years ago it would be, but I need to learn to adapt to my current situation (e.g. being ~25 lbs heavier. Why oh why?).

I'm aiming to discover and maintain my pace not only in running but also in other aspects of my well-being. In my career, for example. Am I moving too slowly and missing good opportunities? Or am I going so fast that I stumble on the littlest things and fall hard? How about my relationships? My growth?

Anything. I pray that I'm given an enlightenment on what my pace should be in my life. Fast or slow, it doesn't matter. I'm determined to finish this year with my hands up in the air and a smile across my face.

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Let me share with you some of goals for this 2011...I mean 2012:

1. Get married to the girl of my dreams, obviously. :))
2. Read 32 books
3. Run 520 km (total distance, including training and registered races)
4. Complete at least one 10K and one 21K (registered)
5. Learn one new classical piano piece
6. Lose 10 lbs :)) [current weight: 170 freaking lbs]

This is a declaration. A challenge to myself. Some sort of accountability to you, dear reader. If the Lord wills it, let's all see by the end of the year how well I did on these goals.

Quotable quote of the day: "Run with your friends and pace your peers!" - Earl Royce

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Year-End Blog from Blog Owner Earl

As 2011 draws to a close, I want to do a look-back and to thank God for another year full of blessings. True, it's not a perfect year and there are lots of downs that definitely pushed me to my limit. But look at me now, after all of the turbulence I encountered, I'm still here standing (or sitting), still able to blog about my wonderful year.

There are some things that I wish I did not do, but then again without those things, I would not have learned. Therefore - as cliché as it may sound - NO REGRETS. There's no use in dwelling on the bad things that happened. I'm here to celebrate the good stuff of my 2011.

I only completed 9 races this year but I made all of them count. With my knee injury and all, it's a wonder how I was able to finish one 3K, four 10Ks, two 16Ks, and two 21Ks. My favorite without a doubt is my Condura Skyway 21K. Aside from the exhilarating fact that I ran on the Skyway, it was a race that I and my then-girlfriend Tey will always remember as the race where we finished holding hands. It's (almost) a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Aside from races/runs, my Lego Minifigures collection also made me very happy indeed. I feel like a little boy again! I don't always have enough money to complete them but thanks to my ever supportive sponsors. :)

I completed over a 100K (in terms of registered runs) but another feat I am proud of was completing 30 books! (Actually just 29 - I'm still reading my 30th). It was a great experience to be in someone else's mind or to virtually visit a different world or to time-travel to another era.

I'm very glad as well that I was able to complete one school year teaching high school Physics and one semester teaching Heat Transfer (ME major subject). It's a bit tiring to do it part-time on top of my regular work, but seeing the "enlightenment" in my students' eyes is just one of the best things in the world. [And I hope I made a difference in some little way.]

However - undeniably, irrevocably, unquestionably - the best part of my 2011 is my engagement to my future wife Tey! Modesty aside, I liked my proposal. :)) Although very simple and straightforward, I like how it was planned and executed. But no proposal will ever be good enough if there was no response, right?! :P So I guess Tey did a better job when she said "Syempre naman". :D

I can go on and on if I list all the blessings I received for every single day of the year. I guess in general I just want to say that it was another fantabulous year!

I'm now looking forward to an even greater 2012. Will the world end next year? I don't care that much. I guess I would just have to count my blessings earlier. :P

The Time Traveler's Blog : My Reasons for Keeping a Journal

I believe there are as many reasons for maintaining a blog as the number of bloggers all over the world. Maybe even more because I already have more than one reason for doing it.

Aside from the online blog, some also have some sort of a classic, pen-and-paper journal, as I do. Or did. Or will. But please take note that it's a journal, ok, not a diary. :P

Whatever the form, my reasons I guess are practically the same. I like expressing my ideas, telling personal stories, sharing my experiences. Some things, I share publicly; some I keep for myself. Sometimes I enjoy seeing other people's reaction/comments but there are times that I want it to be private.

But so far the best thing that I get from it is the feeling that I can sort of time-travel back to that moment. Just before writing this, I was reading my latest entry which was about my proposal/engagement and I felt like I was there again - my sweaty palms clutching the ring-box, the pinkness of Tey's pale face as I went down on one knee, the wild excitement of my relatives and friends, and the sudden deafening and heart-pounding silence that seemed to have followed, as if the crowd was instantly overwhelmed by Tey's silent mouthing of "Syempre naman."

And that was only last month. I can go back to last year when I ran 32K or when I first bought my Timex watch or my running shoes. I can do the Superpositions all over again, starting with the first one, when I was with the guys who originated it (not me, I'm just a messenger, a very avid rip-off fan :P).

Just imagine if you can travel back to 5 years or more! I found my manly journal notebook the other day (Again, it's not a diary, although the cover says Diary, which I think was a misprint). I have entries dating way back to High School and that was just awesome. I plan to share that with you later but they are so good that they most definitely deserve separate entries.

However, I do want to share with you my first ever journal entry. Well, sort of. It was written some 27 years ago, I guess by my Mom, but it was written from my first-person perspective. And it goes a little something like this.

October 20, 1984. Baby's first day home. - It was raining hard when we left the hospital. The taxi meter amounted to only Php 3.50 but my Daddy paid the taxi driver Php 20.00. I first slept beside my Daddy and Mommy. But I did not sleep so sound. I cried and cried. Nanay helped Mommy and Daddy on our first night home. She changed my diapers, my shirts, my beddings. She also prepared my milk. The following day, Sunday, was a busy day. I had lots of visitors.

I was teary-eyed as I copied that one from my baby book. Not because I'm sad, but because the taxi fare was only Php 3.50! And look how high-roller my Daddy was! He paid like more than 5 times, y'all! But on a serious note, I'm greatly touched by knowing that I sort of have a memory of that day. Maybe when I have my own baby someday, I will also be very generous to the driver. :D

Well, I guess that's the farthest I can time-travel in terms of my lifetime. And there are still lots of wonderful stories between then and now.

So there, that's why I like keeping tabs of myself and recording my experiences. If you haven't started one yet, it's never too late to do so. A blog, a journal, whatever. A diary, perhaps? After all, life has so many more things to offer.