Speed Bagal / speedbagal / Speedbagal

That's me on the left. Overweight, overage, underspeeding runner. The speedbagal blog will chronicle my walkjogging participation in 5K races. You might find it interesting that my wife, seen here in the pic, can run longer without walking than I can. Guess that shows a pretty good picture of how I do in race events. Medyo mabagal. So, my first goal is to walkjog 5K races until I can finish them almost without walking. Akala ko madali lang, mahirap pala. Saka na mag-set ng next goal. :-)

Why we run. We started running in the summer of 2009 partly because of Min's cousin Hannah and her husband Patrick who have both experienced the New York and Tokyo marathons recently as either participants and spectators. Their stories motivated us to give it a go. Not marathons, though. Just running in general and 5K events specifically.

We are taking up running to get back in some decent fitness shape because we have neglected this part of our lives for what, maybe 15 years, so we have a lot of catching up to do. It's something we can do together, much like badminton, which is a nice bonus. And unlike basketball, my other get-back-in-shape activity, which I play with my buddies.

Running is a low cost recreational activity that has the side benefits of exercise. Why, it's practically free once you already have your basic running gear. Almost any shirt will do. Almost any shorts will do. But I say your shoes have to be designed for running, otherwise your feet will suffer. Now, if you wanna look good while you're running, that's another matter. [ Check out Chopsuey Runners here. ]

Why 5K. We really started jogging around our village to prepare for the ATC Southern Race back in May '09. The Alabang Town Center (a.k.a ATC, a.k.a The Town) is a favorite in our little family because of several reasons, one of which is its proximity to where we live. On one of our frequent visits there, we saw a banner announcing the race. Perfectly timed to our rising interest in running, we registered almost right away.

After signing up for the shorter race between the 5K and 10K categories, being the beginners that we were, the lady at the concierge desk there courteously handed us the route map. The route map for the 3K race! Teka, teka! May 3K pala, miss?!? Amine and I looked at each other, then to the lady who signed us up. She had this helpless and confused look on her face which mirrored ours. An image of the banner flashed through my mind which showed no 3K category. Then realization came that either it was just added after the banner was made and put up, or, it was omitted by mistake.

Our mistake was not asking if there was a shorter race than 5K. But, since we already have our race bibs for the 5K race, we just shrugged that little confusion off. Bahala na!

In my opinion, and after going through our 1st 5K race and finishing it just inside an hour, 3K is just a tad too short a race while 10K is just too long for us newbies. 5K is right smack in the middle.