Part 42: Getting stronger.....
My shoulder injury was still causing me grief and although slightly improving, it was still to early to do the boot camp.
I could easily suffer a recurrence, or much worse, that would be the last thing I wanted, to risk cutting my trip short, so all I could do was watch for now.
Hoping to join in further down the line, I was at least keen to keep up some level of fitness. Weights or anything to strenuous on my shoulder was not advisable coach said. There was a gym around 4km away in the village so I decided to steadily run there, do some light cardio and run back.
After prepping myself, readying my tunes and stocking up on gatorade,
I started to run for a while on the freeway towards the village. Looking all around, and Im not sure why, it suddenly hit me where I was, thousands of miles from home, kind of in the middle of nowhere, with mountains in the distance, I was almost overcome with a mix of emotions and euphoria.
To be completely honest I felt a little overwhelmed for a brief moment and had to dig in to compose myself.
Lots of things were shooting through my mind, but I just kept on running.
Then at that moment several cars and trucks were honking their horns and waving at me as I jogged along the lay-by.
At first I thought they were beeping because I shouldn't have been there.
But after looking closer, they were hanging out the windows and cheering me on!!
This was hilarious. Seriously these people are always so enthusiastic and cool. Next I soon passed a construction site by the road, builders were all waving and shouting as I ran by them too - I couldn't stop smiling back at them.
And if that wasn't enough to make my day, there was a small shanty town to my right as I ran over a bridge, several young kids were whistling and cheering, even running along side me for a while. It may well have been because my neighbourhood wasn't at all touristy, and they weren't all that used to foreigners, I'm not really sure, but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, and it was very difficult to describe my feelings.
I thought of some of my dearest friends back home going through some difficulties at this time, I thought of my family too.
Its hard to figure out why I was overcome with all these emotions but it took me a while to compose myself. The laughing kids helped with that though. It was mid morning and the sun was seriously beating down on me. Luckily there was not much longer to go, I soon approached the village just as a pre school was emptying to find the place was completely flooded with young children. And again, most were smiling and waving at me.
I did feel a little like Rocky running through Philadelphia and I couldn't resist listening to the theme tune through my headphones.
This steady run only took me around 20 minutes, if that - and what a feeling it was, I was completely buzzing my head off by now.
The gym was fairly modest, but it had all I needed. An exercise bike, free weights and a selection of machines - perfect. The staff were really friendly too. Would I expect anything less?
After a very light cardio session and stretches, I made my way back to the condo eager to see if that experience on the way here was a one off - absolutely not!
This time I was facing the traffic and even more drivers honked and cheered, as did the construction workers and kids.
Normally I hated running, but this was something else. Manila and its shanty suburbs, along with rolling mountains in the distance, low flying planes coming in to land at Ninoy Aquino international airport, drivers and passengers cheering, made this a completely unique and fantastic experience for me.
The next day even though I was aching, I wanted to run again, but this time I ran even further, and exactly the same thing happened. Running through the centre of the village, passing several shops, cafes, and barbers. It was completely addictive, and my fitness level was getting better and better. In fact I ran for 6 consecutive days!! Each time I was cheered on and waved back at everyone I passed.
At this rate I would surpass the boot camp with the help of all the locals of course. It just made me love the Filipinos even more.
After telling my friends here what happened they just chuckled and unlike me were not in the least bit surprised.
It was Saturday morning and I went with them to the bootcamp. Still unable to participate I went on another run along the bay for 10km with Alfred. This time there were several other runners and cyclists and although I got a few waves, it was nowhere near the same as running in the Paranaque suburbs.
My fitness was good and I more than held my own. We ran to the Rizal monument statue in the city Center and back again.
They would all be going for a steep trek up mount Gulugod Baboy in two weeks as part of the boot camp challenge and I did not want to miss that.
So I would continue with my solo training whilst the others were getting on with the bootcamp. I would keep running through the shanty's, building my fitness along with the help of my new road side fan club - it was almost impossible to not feel inspired by them.