Running in Manila

I’ve run twice here in Manila and both times, it’s been pretty frustrating.

First, I have to run in early evening (which is my morning).

As you might imagine, it’s still pretty hot and humid outside and the air quality isn’t great. Plus it’s also really crowded; according to some sources, Manila is the most densely populated city in the world and I believe it.

There’s a small running park not far from my hotel, although I do have to cross a couple of very busy streets—I wait for the walk light because to do otherwise would be taking an insane risk. The park itself has little twisty paths and people run but I’ve been running around the block on the sidewalk. That’s sort of less frustrating although on one side of the rectangle, the sidewalk is very narrow and I have to go into the street briefly.

But what’s more annoying is that my Garmin cannot keep a signal and keeps hopping to different satellites which makes my run look like a drunken toddler did it. And in turn, that makes the pace and distance tracking wildly inaccurate. Kent believes that the satellite issue is because I’m so far south in the northern hemisphere; most of the satellites are further north so my Garmin spazzes out.

The first day I ran, I set all kinds of “records,” only of course they weren’t. They were just equipment glitches. The second day I ran, I ignored pace and distance and ran for time (35 minutes) and still set more “records.”

I’m super glad I chose the later marathon instead of the one in April. Otherwise I would be absolutely freaking out because there is no way I can complete my training plan here, not with any accuracy.

If a tree falls in a forest

Yesterday, I ran my longest distance yet—just over six miles. Except shortly after mile 4, my Garmin’s battery died.

If you’d been running with me, you’d have heard me grumble for the next quarter mile or so about the crappy design (you have to press several buttons to see the battery indicator, and you get no notice that the battery’s low until it’s very nearly dead). At that point, I didn’t know if any of that run would show up or if the whole thing was gone. As it turned out, I lost the last two miles in terms of tracking the run.

Sweaty me post run

But I was really bummed. I’m working on increasing my leg endurance—my lungs felt great the whole way through, and while my legs got tired, they didn’t feel over stressed. I thought I’d done pretty well on the run, but without having all the data, I didn’t know for sure. And I’ll be honest, it bugged me all day that my steps for the day were a full two miles short.

This morning, I ran the same route again (I am stubborn like that). My lungs still felt great, my legs were pretty tired by the end and honestly, I should have peed right before I left the house. That was a little uncomfortable. Best of all, my Garmin didn’t die so it tracked the entire run.

Running as contact sport

I ran this morning (in new shoes no less), and right at the end of my run as I ran up the two steps to my front porch, I tripped. I was pressing the button on my Garmin so it would stop tracking my run, and I guess my attention drifted. I've run up those two steps for over four years and have never once tripped like that.

I smacked my left forearm so hard on the edge of one of the support columns that my arm bone just rang and vibrated for a couple of hours. That sounds very dramatic but I don’t know any other way to describe what it felt like. I’ve got a knot on my arm bone, and I’m sure I’ll get some bruising there, too.

But the part that bugs me the most is that I was so rattled that I pressed the wrong button to save my run. We have a wellness program at work that offers cash incentives when you sync your fitness device with their program. One of the nice features of this new Garmin is that I don't have to enter my workouts manually . . . except of course, today's run didn't get saved so I had to enter the information manually. Boo.

A couple of things I’ve learned from using the Garmin

And I will say up front that they are of interest to me, and possibly no one else. 

I’m a faster runner than I thought I was. Kent, Ben and Jen all thought otherwise, but I didn’t. Truly, I thought that the Garmin would show that I was slower than I’d been saying I was. Nope—I’m faster. On this morning’s run, I deliberately ran at a slower pace (helps build endurance according to Ben, and I’m positive he’s right) and I still ran faster than I thought I would.

My resting heart rate is crazy good at 54 BPM. I already knew I had great blood pressure, and apparently I have a good pulse rate too. I've always associated that kind of pulse rate with athletes (see also "I'm a runner," I said).

The red spike in the heart rate was this morning's run, near
the top of the long hill which is (of course) near the end of the run.

One final brag: this morning I ran over 5 miles. The last time I ran that far, I was 18 and in basic training. I can tell you this—I ran faster this morning than I did 39 years ago.