My Firm Resolve To Run

Running as a Youth

I loved running. In gradeschool and highscool, I ran for the La Salle green archers boys track and field team. My coach put me up to be the team's middle distance runner and soonafter, assigned me as team captain. I used to run competitively when i was very young, and i loved every moment of it. In college, i applied for men's track and field varsity as mode of entry to state university. It was state U or nothing. I was rejected. My heart sank. It was a dificult pill to swollow but as soon as i gained entry through art school, I came running back to the team that rejected me, pleading that i was made of stronger stuff. In fact I was. I ran like the wind against my oponents, wearing proudly the green and violet stripes of my team. Those were the days of my eventful youth. I cannot stress how important these experiences were during my formative years.

Roots

The other day, I came back to my roots. I ran on a tartan surface again. The rubber-based red surface of an olympic track and field oval for the first time in seven years. All of a sudden, it all came rushing back to me back to me. It felt really good, doing a slow jog around four hundred meter- long lanes- the way i used to do countless times in my youth.

I remember the scent of the grass, the bright red color of the tartan and the coushioning feel it had under my feet. The shouts of people scattered around the field, the changing color of the sky, while the sun dipped down to rest late in the day, I took it all in like an over-eager kid on a new playground. My senses heightened and at the same time, my bodily systems went haywire, trying to cope on the stresses i was putting them through. Like said, i 'used' to run a lot but somehow, after more pressing activities were adding up with age, I sort of left the precious sport by the wayside.

There are some things, after taking time to develop, become engrained in you. Like riding a bike, or doing a repetitive skill. I agree with that but with running, My body and mind completely forgot. My sedentary lifestyle was regretable, inflicitng harm to my once chiseled muscles and metronome heart. Technique and mind focusing, skills once so important to me, i completely forgot.

Where I Began to Dream

I heard that in an average lifetime, one travels on foot, a distance equivalent to halfway around the world and to me this seems closer to truth than fiction. I have treaded hundreds- no thousands of miles of Manila roads in my short lifespan, and there seems no end to my travels. On any path, any direction, any surface my life leads me, ill go. running, walking or crawling.

The other day, I felt i was treading on familiar ground. This was home for me and it felt great setting foot back home after a long absence

Ortigas PSC Track Oval had become such a part of me.

I came back to the place i literally grew up in. Back to were I dreamt of winning a simple foot race against my pears. Back to were i trained day and night to succeed. And here, firmly resolve to dream more loftier dreams. This is were it will all start.