First Run This Year

Phew, I'm still sweating buckets.
After almost 6 months of not actively running ( fast walking still don't count) I finally ran yesterday
And boy, it felt so good to literally sweat it out.

I've been meaning to try my new treadmill out since 2 weeks ago but the pesky flu bug got in the way. My chest was congested so bad that I had to take in a couple of breaths to finish a single sentence. And this means a definite no go on the treadmill.

My sister on the other hand, fit as a fiddle got to try it out. In other words, merasmikan my brand new machine.
Twice.

Ini tak boleh jadi, kataku.

Dengan semangat penuh kedengkian, saya pun berlari. Even though I was still coughing.

My machine, The Sole F85 is claimed to be, by its manufacturer as 'The Best Folding Treadmill On The Planet.
 No kidding. Look it up.

To tell you the truth, if it were up to me, I'd buy the first bulky treadmill I see at the first Fitness Concept I go to. But to my husband, it's all about research. And I left it all to him.
We googled everything from Nordic Track to Life Fitness ( ridiculously expensive) to  Reebok.
But we liked Sole the most.

Let me tell you why.
 My interpretation of a good solid treadmill is the width of its deck. My previous treadmill had a 20 inch deck. And most treadmills used in gyms have 20 inch decks.
To me, you shouldn't settle with decks narrower than that. It will be such a chore to run, train and catwalk at the same time.

The Sole F85, get this, has a 22 inch deck.  Best giler.
Kau nak guling-guling atas treadmill pun boleh.
( okay, exaggeration)

Ianya leberrr

So we crossed our fingers and hoped there is a Sole dealer in Malaysia. We looked it up and found out they were just setting their show room up in Puchong. So we called the person in charge and set up an appointment at  this so called show room.
When we arrived, we saw that the  shoplots were new. Papan tanda pun takde lagi.
It seemed a bit shady. We kinda doubted at first that this guy was legit.  Siap asked us to wait 10 minutes because he was out.

Fortunately when the tokey arrived, he explained that they were just starting to renovate the showroom. When we were inside the shop ( its roller shutters were closed previously), baru nampak an array of fitness machine and instruments. Phew! So we went down to business straight away.

Best of all, we got a deal in which Tokey agreed for free shipping to Taiping, since a hotel in Taiping bought a few machines from him and it's en route. Not only that, but we also got a new recumbent bike for free! And for the heck of it, he threw in a floor protector and a yoga mat for free as well. As if he knew  I'm an idiot for free stuff.

Anyway, like I said , I only got the chance to try it out for the first time yesterday ( after it was delivered to us almost 2 weeks ago).
And I'm in love with  it.

Other than wide, the  deck is also long ( 60 inches at least) so that you don't fall back too soon when it gets too fast or you get too tired, hurhur.
It's relatively quieter and has built in speakers so you can jack your Ipod in and don't have to pull out your headphones every 30 seconds to hear whether your ( my) baby is crying or not.

It has a cool 9 inch LCD screen for the display. You can choose your own program and the machine can personalize it for you when you enter your weight and age.  The timer on the display counts down rather than up which to me makes it more bearable ( I can't explain why).

The only thing is, my last treadmill used imperial system and measured everything in miles so I got used to that. If only I can figure out how to change the settings from Km to miles, then everything would be perfect. (I'll wait for my husband to get home on the weekend to do this as I can't be bothered with technical stuff)

Malangnya no LCD screen to watch movies :( .
You can't always get what you want, ok.

The run went pretty smoothly and quietly. When I described smooth and quiet, I meant the treadmill, not me.
I on the other hand, after not running for a long time, was panting away and cursing when the 'fat-loss' program on the mill raised the inclination to 5. And due to the hot hazy weather, it was like running in a sauna and I was sweating a lot.
I mean, A LOT.
Which was good even though afterwards I was feeling a bit woozy.

And I loved sweating it out so much that today I decided to run.
I know for a fact that if you haven't been running in a along time, you should alternate your running days to allow muscle recovery but I just couldn't help myself.
So I planned, just a quick spin, a 10 minute-ish run or until the baby wakes up, whichever came first.

As  I reached the 10th minute,on  a roll and hoping baby would continue napping so I could get at least 20-30 minutes instead, my little princess with a built in timer ( as my mom claims) woke up and started pining for mommy's attention.

cheeky lil' miss

OK.  Got that. Rest.
End of today's skit.

Farewell, friend.

It was circa 2005.
We were in a mall in Penang when we first saw you.
We fell in love with you immediately. We saw your potential. And I guess you saw through ours.
It was a tough time. You were way beyond our budget.
We were in our mid twenties, barely in our first year working. We had a little baby. Our car was pre owned and we rented a small house in a strange new place.
But we were determined. We had to have you.

So we  went out on a limb and had you on easy pay for 12 months. And you were well worth it.

It has been 8 great years since.

There were good and bad days, mostly good. On bad days, you would collect dust and be laced with cobwebs.

But you took me through rainy days. You took me through my first race. You took me through my first marathon. You took me through days I was too embarrassed to run outside. You took me through speed trainings. You took me through my subsequent pregnancies.
 Through it all.

There were times you were under- appreciated. You became a dread, a waste of space. But you braved through all those times, never letting me down.
You stood there, constantly reminding me to get a hold of my life. To own my body.

But as much as I love you, I have to let you go.
You have been of great service and with that I thank you.

I'm moving on, that's true. It's a fact you have to understand.

But I will not fail you. You will go on to other people who need you more. A diabetic friend in need of routine excercise to maintain her health. I hope she will be good to you. I hope she will give you more good days than bad. I hope you will be fully utilized. I hope you will not be downgraded as a place to hang clothes on rainy days.

You will go down in history, no worries. Your story will surely inspire some 9 year old to write a 'Saya Sebuah Treadmill' essay.
And even if in that essay I will be potrayed as an ungrateful person, that is the sacrifice I am willing to take for you.




Good luck with your new owner.

With lots of love,

JJ.

Runner's Porn

I'm not what you would call an ardent fan of RW magazine in such that I wouldn't go out of my way to get my fix every month. I only get it whenever I can, takdela bersungguh- sungguh cari all around town.

But over the years berkumpul la jugak all the magazine. We stack most of the past issues in our living room's mini library and the rest is well, like some of our books, all over the house.

Sometimes to think of it, most of the stuff featured in the mag is nothing we haven't heard of before or read on the internet. And let's face it, some of the articles and features are recycled, only written in different context. And some articles even cancel each other out. August's issue will say gluten-free diet is good for runners. Then December's issue will say you will need more carbs from wheat derived products for the extra energy.

Thing is, everything in RW you can get for free on the internet.
 Contoh?

The Newbie Ccronicles and other personal accounts about running : type running blog and hit the 'search' button, selambak on the internet.

The Ask Miles section : go to any runner's forum. There's always some smart alec to answer any of your running woes. 

Running attire and gadjet reviews : need I say more ? It's more reliable on the internet sebab takde user bias. 

And you know the most ironic thing in my part about this is what I do while pouring over my latest issue : snacking.

And in my husband's case, lagi kronik : makan nasik.

adegan yang tidak patut ditiru

I am aware of all this. So why do I still from time to time ( whenever I can, as I claim) defy all logic and still get my occasional fix of RW?

It's the glossy pictures. Make that glossy running related pictures.

The first thing I do when I get my issue is peel it carefully from the plastic wrapping and go gaaaaaaaa over the images.

The vibrant attires! The cool gadgets! The beautiful running paths!

Tu tak sebut lagi pasal the ads.

And after 2 days, baru sibuk nak baca the articles.

I tell myself time and time again, it's just runner's porn.

So with that in mind, last weekend during a casual spree at a book store, I resisted buying the latest issue.

It's porn, it's porn, it's porn so went my mantra.

And after 4 months of not adding RW to my shopping cart, I was happy to READILY declare that I was still maintaining my streak.

Up until after that we entered a used book store which sells past issues of magazines for half the price.

Hancussssss.

Borong sampai 2 pulak tu.

Tak guna.