Today let’s talk about something non-beauty. Avid Instagram followers of mine will know by now that I am into running. It is something that I have not talk about here in Street Love because this is afterall a beauty blog. But I thought I would tell you about this lifestyle of mine 😀 . When I started posting more and more running selfies, I get questions like “are you one of those blogger turning the blog into another direction?”. The answer is NO. I get it. I do. I have seen beauty blogger turning into mummy blogger after they had a kid, lifestyle blogger turning into food blogger or beauty blogger turning into sports blogger when they adopted running. So I get what you mean. My main passion (still is!) is anything and everything beauty. Running is just a part of my lifestyle. I do not foresee Street Love turning into a sports blog at all 😉 . I have Modern Mavens for that remember? I am proud of Street Love and proud to introduce myself as a beauty enthusiast 🙂

Why I started running?

Oh God. Let me think. It all started last year 2015. I got fed up with my weak right knee one day that I thought of running to strengthen it. I fell and broke my right ankle many years ago. People say once you hurt your leg, it will keep coming back. True enough, I always sprained / dislocated my knee. It was like the nerve system of my right leg was messed up. I am constantly immobile and limping all year round. Then last year everything gotten better for some reason. So I thought of running. I was assuming that running could somehow make my muscles stronger. That is the main reason why I started running. After that only I realized my knee was fine. It was my heart condition. I had totally forgotten that I had a heart issue no thanks to Hyperthyroidism. My priority shifted from the knee to the heart. That is how everything got more and more technical and I gotten deeper and deeper into the whole running thingamajig lol.

The love and hate relationship with running

After running for a year now, I can tell you that I absolutely hate running. I started running with no proper guidance. I do what everyone said – JUST RUN. And run I did. I kept getting injuries here and there, shin splints the most throughout the first 6 months of my run. But the pain does not stop me from running. I still run every morning. Sometimes alternative days due to the sharp pain in the bone of my shins. When my depression got worse, I stopped running. I could not get out of the bed in the morning like how I used to. One day break turns to one week, before turning into one month, two months and so on. I got back to running 2 months before Nike We Run KL 2016. I registered myself and got back into training. Training at 6.30am in the morning was easy for me. But because I have this heart condition, I could not run long or long distance without stopping. I do not compare myself with those professional runners but deep down inside me I was comparing. I wanted to be able to run non-stop like them. Doctor warned me not to push myself too much. In fact I should not be running. I could collapse. My doctor said “collapse” and not the word “die” so I figure I am still alright LOL. My mom stays nearby when I run in the morning. She keep track of me and if she did not see me hamster looping back in a few minutes, she will go out to look for me just in case I fainted. I can be pushy at myself sometimes. I want to see how much further I can push myself before I faint 😛 . I know that is not advisable to do but I am one stubborn girl. When I run, I shout at myself asking why I torture myself like this. After my run, I felt so much happier and I wanted to run more. So yes, that is my love and hate relationship with running.

How far have I gone with running?

Not distance wise but health wise. It has been fantastic. This is probably the only reason why I continue to run despite injuries. I like how running toned my body. I do not lose weight from running but everything looked more toned. I look healthy, not skinny. My heart condition also improved a lot. I can now run a few KMs without stopping to catch a breath. I still do not compare pace and timing with the rest of the runners because I am not doing it professionally so personally, I do not bother. I measure today’s run with yesterday and so on. I am my own enemy.

What kind of injuries I get from running?

I am probably the only runner I know that had gotten so many running injuries lol. For a beginner, I ran too much too soon. New runners should increase their mileage 10% a week and I increased mine 100% each run. For example yesterday I ran 2km and today I make it 4km haha. This is a part of the reason why I have running injuries. I have been doing a lot of research on shin splints. It happened for various reasons such as running shoe, running condition, running posture, breathing method and so on. I have corrected everything single thing and yet I still get shin splints. The only explanation for that is my body is still not used to the drastic change and impact. It gets better as I run more. As of today as I am writing this, I no longer have shin splints 🙂 . That enables me to run longer distance non-stop. Right before Nike We Run KL 2016 21km, I had a hamstring pull. I took a week of rest from training before the half marathon run. Sadly I had the pull again quarter through the run. It was my first half marathon and a painful one. It was painful when I walk but not when I run. Two months after the run, I still get the pull at the back of my knee when I train. So I started doing research on that. It turns out it was not hamstring pull anymore but something called “runner’s knee”. Oh boy. It does not cure anyhow until recently. I did some stretches on the bed every morning and I am all better now. Weird. As long as it works, hey I do not mind where I stretch lol.

The fun side of running

What I love about running is how I spice up my run with fun sports attire and running selfies after cooling down. Now, that is the fun side of running for me. Running can be boring. One just have to find something fun to do to keep themselves entertained.

I probably have too much of sports wear for a beginner runner, probably more than any other runner I know. I just love shopping for sports attire. I still buy a lot. My mother may disown me one day for buying too much sports attire. For some reason I never have enough of running top or running shorts. A FedEx box containing sports wear excites me more than a package containing makeup LOL. Let’s not even get into running shoes. I own about 5-6 pairs of Skechers and Nike in total? I cannot even remember myself.

The highlight for each of my run is definitely running selfies. I usually take all the selfies after my run and after cooling down. This way it does not interrupt my training. It takes a lot of thoughts and effort to take a running selfie. It is not easy. But it is definitely fun. Running up and down just to get a clear, good shot might ended up with me running a few KMs in total. Sometimes 🙂 . This is why The Malay Mail named me as a selfie expert lol.

What running means to me

In one of the Grey’s Anatomy episode, one of the doctor spoke about how when he is in surgery mode, everything else around him disappears. That is how I am when I run. When I run, everything else around me disappears. I could only hear my own breathing. 2 steps inhale, 1 step exhale. When I run I concentrate on a few things – I make sure my shoulder are relax, I do not grip my hand but instead keeping them relax as if I’m holding an egg, I make sure my feet are level so that I land midfoot, I make sure I take a shorter strike, body leaning forward and so on. And of course all that happened with Beyonce shouting at the top of her lungs into my ears as I run 😀

Hope you enjoyed reading a little glimpse of my love for running and why I adopted running into my lifestyle. I may start to post a bit of sports related reviews for Lifestyle Sunday. What do you think? Would you be interested to read? Rest assured. It is only for Lifestyle Sunday segment which only happens on Sunday 😀 . I am still a beauty blogger inside out, left right, center, up and down 😛