Monday, 1 July 2013

Meet the Runkin

I am a 30-something female software engineer, who does not have the writing skill but wants to capture the memories of our outdoor adventures, composed mostly of going long distance cycling and our (me and my boyfriend's) quest to join ultra marathons, and to inspire others that it is never too late to start an active lifestyle. So bear with me for wrong grammars.

How I became a runner?

About 2 and a half years ago, I was one of those women who likes to hangout in the malls. But then things changed when I met my boyfriend. He has a very active lifestyle and loves to run. Because he spends most of his weekends either running or hiking, I have to do some running myself to keep up with him. But now things changed I am faster runner than him and actively participated more races than him. But I still could not keep up with him on cycling.

Back then, I had a roommate who loves to run too. I told her that I will join on her runs in the galloping goose. The first time I run was about 1.5km, at 200 meters i was already gasping for breath. I told her to just leave me behind, and I walk the rest of the distance. I keep running for 1.5km, then to 3km, and then just out of the blue, me and some friends just decided to take a bus to elk lake and do the entire 10km loop. A kilometer marker seems to be forever, we run and walk.. until we finished it. After that experienced, I decided to sign up for the 8km run for goodlife fitness victoria marathon. And then I started running with my boyfriend as well.

I still consider myself a beginner in running because I have not done my first full marathon yet. But now i can easily run 21k without worries.  I had participated one 8km run, three half marathons, and is currently training for the 56 kilometer "The Great Lake Walk"  around Lake Cowichan on Sept. 21st. We're planning to do a run and walk for this event.

The runkin at Oakbay half marathon.


How I became a cyclist?

Victoria is a very cycle friendly city, bike lanes in most streets, co-workers cycling to work. Because of this I am motivated  to own a bike myself. My first bike is a 100 dollar bike, it has gears but difficult to changed. You know what a 100 dollar bike is. Anyways, back then, I did not know that 5000 dollars bicycles exists. The last time I rode a bike was when I was only 12 years old. I pushed my bike from the bicycle shop towards my boarding house cause I still have to practice how to ride again. In the galloping goose near the Cecelia ravine park there is a bit of a space that I can practice. Several times, I get into the bushes, got lots of bruises too. I practiced after work until I am able to cycle about 500 meters. But then, in the galloping goose there's this posts that separate the lanes. I had difficulty passing my bike into those posts. And there's the bridge between the lochside trail and the galloping goose trail that I have to push my bike when passing over it. I never gave up, I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. And just yesterday, me and my boyfriend cycled a total of 82km from Victoria(this is going to be a separate blog posts) to Salt Spring Island. But its not on a 100 dollar bike anymore.. and i am in complete cycling gears as well.


Why runkin?

My boyfriend fondly call our dog rumpkin, but I want to call her runking because she is a fast runner border collie, but because its a she I could not call her a king, and while we were brainstorming on how to call my blog we just settle for runkin. Run+kin, a running family. On my upcoming posts, I will refer my boyfriend the "Runkin Man" and Rosy the border collie, the "Runkin Dog".

Welcome to my Blog!

The Runkin


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