Running Progress - September 2019

Hi friend,

This is going to be my first post about my running progress.

A quick context. I've been trying to lead a healthier lifestyle ever since I noticed that close people around me are slowly falling ill as time has caught up and engulfed their youth. Some even get caught by surprise. I would often  receive news of extended families and friends having called to the hospital due to health issues. This experience gave me some motivation to take care of myself and to invest in my health.

Being economical as I am, I started with the simplest activity there is, jogging.

My journey started back in 2016 when I realized that my weight has severely impacted my overall health. I would feel so unhealthy and fatigue all the time. Eating too much gave me heartburns to the point that I thought I might have some heart complications. So one day, I just decided to put on my shoes and to just run to the best of my abilities. There were definitely ups and downs and there were even a period where I stopped running for 4 months. But I'm very thankful that the people around me are all very supportive and kind. I would've never keep it going without the support that I get from friends and families.

Fast-forward to 2019, my goal is to run 100 km per month. I am nowhere near consistent enough with my goals but I'm still happy with the progress that I'm making. So here's my distance statistics so far, ever since I came back to Malaysia.

I came back on late August and immediately start on my running routine. The schedule were pretty straight forward. To run 6.3 km for 4 times a week on a monthly basis. That way, I will hit 100 km in a month. But as you can see from the graph above, there were several months where I didn't hit the monthly target. The journey was definitely not easy. Life happens. You fall sick, you got injured, or sometimes you just don't have the motivation for it. But no matter what happens, I always tell myself that it's going to be a lifelong journey. It's not about hitting 10 km in one session. What counts is the consistent incremental kilometers covered. Running for 1 km everyday will always be better than 10 km in one day. The goal is to build a habit. To create a lifestyle change. Not to run the furthest or the fastest in one go. Once I finally grasp the basic concept of making running a habit, then I will slowly improve myself in terms of distance and pacing. October just started and I'm ready to hit the monthly goal again now that the haze (yeap, this is my excuse for last month) is over.

Let strive for health and well-being together!

Some statistics for me to note:

Average pace: 7.86 minutes per kilometer

Average distance per activity: 7.35 km per activity

Average monthly distance: 88.3 km