Forward on

I ran 5 kilometers in 29 minutes today.

I'm not shocked that some people found this feat of mine surprising. I haven’t always been the “athletic type,” much less someone who could jog a mile without having to take frequent breathers. Then again, they have probably enough reasons to think so, considering how I couldn’t even manage to do a single full push-up during my CAT days.

And now, for every stride that goes for kilometer by kilometer, I brush off everything behind me. This is me, liberated from the constricting realities that haunted my past; running against the jeers and expressions of disbelief that meet me face on.

There is something liberating in running, and the feeling is not just derived from the winds sweeping up against your hair. The moment when the signal gunshot is fired and everyone starts to scurry towards the front line, you know you’re up for an interesting journey that only goes forward on, away from your starting point, only to return after you have completed the entire journey– a changed man.

Then, I would remember what my dad would always tell me when we are running: “Just keep running looking onward, son. Never look back.”

Never look back.

Sometimes, it's not what you're running for, but who you're running with.
Me with my brother during the Pauli-takbo 2012.

No matter how long the journey is, you always wind up going back
to where you started. Talk about connotative applicability.

That rush of blood to the brain when you push yourself to your maximum
level of performance when you finally catch sight of the finish line. Epic.

First running award in the family! I'm proud of you sister!