Head, body, mind, soul, spirit, running, dry air…

As I am still continuing on my training for the marathon, it’s about three weeks left. So far, I felt ok. I felt my training had gone pretty good and well. Some are as expected, others not so, yet surprising. And, some are even great surprises. Some stuffs that I realized and fuel me to keep going and striving for the better, in terms of training, racing and especially life.
This week is supposed to be the biggest week of my marathon training, in terms of mileage that I have to cover. And, yesterday was probably the longest mid-week run that I did for this year. On the run out of the park, I felt good. I was able to keep the pace that I wanted to start the run, and that would probably be the pace that I will be doing in the race. Along the run, I met one my teammates. I was running all the way to the university. Man… that was packed. A lot more students than I usually run into. None of them I know tho.
The, it was time for me to turned around to go back to the park; I started to felt the dry air. My lips started to not feeling comfortable at all, which is for me, it’s a sign of ‘I need some liquid/water/orange juice, or any kind of hydration’. But in this case, obviously, I did not bring any hydration with me, because I never bring any on my mid week run. My philosophy has always been to bring hydration during weekend long run. At about half way for me to get to the park, I started feeling a little bit weak, but I know I can still run all the way back to the park. But then, by about 1.5 to two miles from the park, I realized my mind is playing ‘tricks’ in my head to my body. Somehow I felt that my body is saying, ‘please stop, just walk. Didn’t u feel the pain in ur body, leg and feet?’ But my head and myself kept saying, ‘come on, let’s go, u can do this. U can keep running.’ To my surprise, I realized at the time being, my pace was actually faster than I thought I was in. The pace was faster than my first mile. The pace is still even faster than the mid mile that I was in.
I got to the park just as the dark was about to set in. There were still people running around the park, probably enjoying the weather, although not sure how u can enjoy the dry air. Maybe it was the not so cold nite yet. Oh well… can really understand people’s mind tho.
When I got home, I started thinking about the so many things that happen on my run. I realized even more about the importance of having ur spirit, mind, soul, and body in one set. Many times, we, as human beings, have our spirit, head, mind, and body in different settings. For instance, our body may be at work, but our mind is thinking about some vacation spot. Then, our spirit is thinking about something else. I guess that’s why people like to say to one another, ‘focus, man… focus…’, ‘keep ur head in the game…’ Even on the run, ur body, leg, and feet could be actually running, but ur mind could be thinking about something else. U could be thinking about what u want to do after the run, what u want to eat afterwards. Especially with the surroundings that u r in, u could be distracted by a passer by, by a cute chick that u just passed, by a smell of some bbq, or maybe even a smell of sludge, hahhaaha…..j/k, but yet it is possible. And, also a dry air did not really help either.
All rite, enough for the day. I’ll try to continue on after another ‘long’ run on Saturday.

my ipod list nowadays... (trust me, it will always change forever...)

The Afters – theafters.com
Aly & AJ – alyandaj.com
Anberlin – anberlin.com
Audio Adrenaline – audio.com
Avril Lavigne – avrillavigne.com
Ayiesha Woods – myspace.com/ayieshawoods
The Black Eyed Peas – blackeyedpeas.com
Bon Jovi – bonjovi.com
The Bravery – the bravery.com
Chris Taylor – myspace.com/christaylorbacnd
Chris Tomlin – christomlin.com
David Crowder band – davidcrowderband.com
DC Talk – dctalk.com
Delirious? – delirious.co.uk
Demon Hunter – demonhunter.net
Evanescence – evanescence.com
Falling Up – fallingup777.com
Fergie – fergie.blackeyedpeas.com
Fireflight – fireflightrock.com
Flyleaf – flyleafmusic.com
The Fray – the fray.net
Gwen Stefani – gwenstefani.com
Ha-ash – myspace.com/haash
Hillsong – hillsong.com/music
Jaci Velasquez – jacivelasquez.com
Jars of Clay – jarsofclay.com
Jay chou – jay-chou.net
Kanye West – kanyeuniversecity.com
Karmina – karmina.com
Katy Perry – katyperry.com
Krystal Meyers – krystalmeyers.com
Larue -
Lenka – myspace.com/lenkamusic
Linkin Park – linkinpark.com
Jay-Z – rocafella.com
Liz Phair – lizphair.com
Mark Schultz – markschultzmusic.com
Maroon5 – maroon5.com
Michelle Branch – michellebranch.com
Natasha Bedingfield – natashabedingfieldusa.com
Nelly Furtado – nellyfurtado.com
Newsboys – newsboys.com
One Republic – onerepublic.net
POD – payableondeath.com
Philmont -
Pillar – pillarmusic.com
Relient K – relientk.com
Rihanna – rihannanow.com
S.H.E – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/s.h.e
Sanctus Real – sanctusreal.com
Skillet – skillet.com
Snow Patrol – snowpatrol.amrecords.com
Stellar Kart – stellarkart.com
Stephanie Smith – stephaniesmithmusic.com
Steven Curtis Chapman – stevencurtischapman.com
Superchick – myspace.com/superchick
Thousand Foot Krutch – thousandfootkrutch.com
Toby Mac – tobymac.com
The Veronicas – theveronicas.com
Zoegirl – myspace.com/zoegirlonline

greater

This might be one of those times where I actually get to reflect about certain things in my life based on songs that I heard. It’s either from the radio, ipod, or something that I just download. After having been thinking about things that I had done, that I am doing, that I’m going to do, right now I’m quite looking forward to go ‘home’ again. Being able to see my family, especially the newest member of the family; that is quite exciting. Yes, I finally will be able to see my nephew (my bro’s son, my parent’s first grandchild, even the first grandchild in the family).
Back then, for me, family was not that big of deal for me. Especially after having not seeing them for about ten years (yes, 10 years), I was actually feeling just ok. But then, after a while and seeing them again, I realized family is important. Family is the part of your life that is always behind u. Always backs u up. Even tho, there are times that u might think that they’re not backing u up, they’re still there to help u, to encourage u.
Sometimes, I think, is it because of time? Is it age? Is it because u grew in it? But, for me, I actually grow out of it. I lived away from my family for about ten years. Ten years we were apart, but yet, I think nowadays I’m actually closer to them than before.
I always have a perspective on life as life is amazing. Life is wonderful. Life is great. And, I really do thank GOD for that. I had done and still am doing things that I think for some people I’m quite ‘out’ of my mind. And, so far, I actually enjoy it. I am having fun. I never regret the things that I had done. And, all of them are things that I wanted to do. Not something that somebody told me to do, in which I’m pretty sure I do like to do things based on the things that I know whether I can, or cannot do, without being told by anybody.
As nowadays, I’m training for my first ever marathon. There have been things that happened to me and quite a bit of things that I found more about my self. With it off course, my quest for the ironman race continues. So, during these times, I met and talked to many different kind of people. Some are weird, some are indeed interesting, some are wonderful, some are not so wonderful, some are friendly, and others are just, as I always said, I think they are being just the way they are. After having been thinking about many of those things, I realized that those people are being put in my pathway that lead to something, or to certain point. So, at this point, what is the most important that I realized? I realized that ‘greater things have yet to come, and still, greater things are to be done in my life.’ It’s either by me, or by somebody else, but out of all that, GOD is always the ONE that will always be there with me.
Yesterday, I ran in a pathway of a park that I never been to. As I was running along the path and not really realizing exactly where I am (this reminds me to google it now so that I know next time where I am), I ended up in the area that is quite unfamiliar to me. The path that I was running felt like it’s never end. It kept going and going and going. At the same time, I kept on following the path. Every time I wanted to turn around, my mind kept saying, keep going; oh, just another corner; wouldn’t u like to find out what’s on that corner; etc. I felt like my mind play tricks on me. Indeed, I followed the path to the end of it. At that end, there wasn’t much to see. Not much of a view. But, I felt ok. I felt like I reached one point. I felt like I just accomplished something. I ran along the new path, new area, new territory. As one person that passed me along the path was saying, ‘ u’r almost there’. Where I was and where was I heading to? I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know where the end of the path will lead me to. Is that life? Most of the time, u don’t know where u r and u don’t know where u’r going. But, in front of u, there is a pathway. There’s a pavement that will lead u somewhere. Lead u to something new, each corner gave u different view, each corner lead u to something. It could be something good, but it can also lead u to something that is not so good. But, regardless of the views, the corners, the surroundings, the pathway, the pavement is there. It was there. It was there, waiting for u to walk on, to be run on. Do u want to take the path? Do u dare to take the path?
That is life. There is always a path in front u. It could be a good one, or it could be a great one, but it could also be a not so good path. But, regardless of the kind of path that u r in, there is always someone that will be there for u; that will be by ur side. And, that path would give u greater ‘things’.
‘Ten years’ was the ‘path’ that I chose back then to be apart from my family. What does that lead me to? Many different kinds of ‘things’. And, today I can say that I’m glad that I walk along that path, because I think right now I’m not only walking along the path that follows the previous path, but I can sort of ‘running’ along this new path. God bless…