Back in Mizuno Run Club

It was my first Mizuno Run Club session this year and it was, for me, a reunion of sorts.  

Last year, I never missed the run club, which is held every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 7 p.m. in Bonifacio High Street.  Nope, not once.  There was this one time when, despite a minor injury, I drove all the way there with my two kids in tow just to watch the runners from afar and smell the sweat from their bodies (er, the last line right there must not be taken literally.)

This year, however, I realized that my injuries had kept me from attending the run club for half a year already.  You can only imagine how ecstatic I was over the fact that, with my shin splints gradually disappearing, I could finally run with everyone again.

So, I arrived a little before 7 p.m. to see that I didn’t recognize anyone except KC from Mizuno.  All of a sudden, I turned shy and went to ROX to drool over the bikes first.  I returned around 10 minutes after happy to see a lot of familiar faces.

From Happy Feet, there was Ben and his fiancee Missy who was going to run for the first time.  Marga and her bike Sixto arrived along with her good friend Jeremy, my “editor”.  I finally got to meet Maui who I have forever seen online and in pics but never got to talk to.  Taki ran too soon after he signed up for the TNF at ROX.

My pathetic goal was to run a safe and slow 3k.  This was, after all, just my second post-injury run.  I started out with Ben, Missy, and Taki chatting about running, biking, and everything else in between.  Soon after, I ran alongside Coach Ige who, as it turns out, was injured like me.  I asked him the cause of his injury and he replied “overtraining.”  As if we were two athletes on the same fitness level, I answered “hey, me too!”  Then, he adds “Yeah, I just came back from two marathons, one in Vancouver, the other in Singapore.”  I wanted to slap myself in the face; I just got injured from a pitiful 5k in U.P.

As we ran, I saw a man in white running in the opposite direction.  It was Bald Runner.  Now, I know for a fact that BR is true to his word.  In his last post, he said he would try waving at lady runners just to see their reactions.  I told him I would look forward to a wave from him should we run into each other soon.  That wave definitely came sooner than expected.  We got to run together for a few minutes but ended up parting ways as he completed his 10 mile goal for that evening.

I ended my run at exactly 3k.  No more, no less.  And, oh, no pain after the run either.  Yes!