Solo run this morning and was focusing on recovery today. Completed 1km warmup + 5km run + 2.5 cooldown. Same time last year, I was at my fastest 5km finishing it at 20mins. Today, I am on my journey back to it!

Some resonating thoughts today in relation to this: RESILIENCE AND NOT GIVING UP.

Resilience is about getting back, it is about how fast we get back from tough situations. I may still be building up my endurance and stamina back. But the journey is worth it – having time for myself every run – my new version of my quiet time; utilizing time back to be with friends – our new version of quality time and catching up; and having to be back in the journey in my second life – this time with a lot more appreciation of everyday and every moment.

As I start my 3rd week of getting back to training, I have my spirits up. Did the sub20 last year for 5km almost after more than 6 months into running so there is hope. Getting closer to sub1 for 10k and let’s get working on another faster 5k. Let’s enjoy every step of the way!

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor #Secondlife #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Back to regular programming and starting March with warmth for the body and mind. And surprisingly, seeing some friends to warm up the heart!

Completed an almost 12km run today – 1km warmup and almost 1km cooldown and a 10km run! Wanted to run more but I got too thirsty (lesson learned here: need to hydrate more prior to run). Best pace at 5:23 today but need to work on consistency per lap. Getting closer back to sub1!

What a treat to see some familiar faces and some friends I have not seen in weeks. To my delight, I got to enjoy breakfast and good stories with them, too!

Resonating thoughts today: ABOUT QUALITY TIME.

Our memorable moments are shared usually with people we value and people who value us back. And we don’t need much material stuff when we spend time with the right people. And when they choose to spend time, we show appreciation by being mindful with them – paying attention to the stories they tell, engaging into conversations and sharing laughter back. It is about being genuinely interested in what they let us see and what they share with us. If people you value choose to spend the time instead of being somewhere else, do you feel extra special? I definitely do! I have felt it again today – Time spent is love spent. What a blessed glorious morning today!

Quality time and deep connections – this is how we let connectedness grow. So let’s be mindful of how we spend our time and energy. Most especially who we spend it with. Life is very short. Every moment matters. Let’s spend it well. 😊😉😊

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor #RoadToBubbles #42on40

I was feeling very tired at work earlier today because of the usual busy-ness and I feel like I caught a cold. But decided to complete this week’s streak with a chill-no-pressure recovery run to sweat away the day and feel warmer!

Completed an almost 3km walk (warm-up and cooldown) + 5km recovery run. Better overall pace today than yesterday with best pace at 5:03 today. Getting there!

I was thinking about a conversation with a friend yesterday during this run. She was sharing about some recent experiences about trust (and/or the lack if it).

We go through life and in the process, we learn to trust. During our first steps, first everything, it cannot happen without the support of those who believe in us and what we can do. In our experiences, we build or lose that trust because of how we get treated and/or how it made us feel. We build trust through consistency, and sometimes we do or don’t do it unknowingly for some people. That is how we earn or lose their trust.

To me, trust is given when earned; sometimes, it is given when we choose to. And lately I am learning it happens when we are ready for it.

Most importantly, we need to give it to ourselves, too – Trust to know that when we make mistakes we can always come back and do better; Trust that when people love us when we are not okay, that means they probably really do even if they are not perfect or even if we are not perfect; Trust that even if people have nothing to gain, they will treat us well.

But it is not about being naive. It is about grace to accept what we deserve. It is about reliability and consistency and believing that in the chaos of everyday, when we witness and see it happen, hope is there. And with openness and readiness, it will always get better. Trust the Grand Plan and it will happen when we are ready for it.

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor
#Secondlife #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Completed 12km today. 1km warm-up, 9km run, 2km cooldown. Better pace than yesterday’s run and definitely feeling good after this run.

Many thoughts during this run today: EXPECTATIONS. REALITY. ACTIONS.

In our daily lives, we go through many expectations – from family, from work, from friends and from people around us. Some expectations we meet, some we can’t. Some we deliberately don’t. The ones we always try to meet are from the ones that matter to us. The ones we meet and the ones that matter we chase to become reality. With effort and with elegance, we do what we need to do and take the necessary steps to achieve what we expect for ourselves. If we don’t meet those, then we try again. And again. Till eventually we get it right. We develop grit. We don’t stop till we get what we envisioned.

Good morning to end the day. Everyday is an opportunity to start. Everyday is a new day of hope.

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Ending the day with a good run! More gentle push to start the week at 8km run + 1km warmup walk + almost 1km cooldown. Busy first day of the week but productive nonetheless. Good honest conversations showing the differences from that which deliberately omit the truth.

Resonating thoughts today: GOLDEN RULE.

One of the conversations today is about adherence to a known reality. You could imagine the frustration when you’re given the run-around only to end up with a reflection of the truth. What is so difficult about being honest? What is so challenging with telling the truth? What does one gain when they portray only an interpretation of the what-is? We all deserve something better.

Integrity is about doing what’s right all the time. It is not about a version of the truth because the truth only has itself. It is not driven by personal gains nor does it seek personal gains. “Doing right even when no one is looking.” It is about respecting another to deserve the truth without malicious intent. Integrity is about giving to somebody what you expect others to give yourself. Simple. Easy. Straightforward.

Today as we get into our day, let’s be a reflection of that which we expect. Let’s be beacons of positivity and lead each other to meaningful moments full of purpose. Let’s be patient enough to treat each other with gentleness esp in moments we feel we are trying hard. Let’s strive to be more than we were yesterday. Let’s treat each other how we want to be treated. Always with kindness.

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor #RoadToBubbles #42on40

More than 40km mileage this week and kicking off the weekends with a chill-no-pressure run! Been feeling tired maybe because I kinda pushed a little harder than I should. So this seems to be a perfect morning for a recovery run!

Resonating thoughts this run: PATIENCE.

This week was a very productive week full of learnings.

There were enough challenges that made me realize that there are always better ways of doing so long as we are able to continue to be open to suggestions and feedback. There were enough opportunities that makes me appreciate the beauty of process and self-checks. There were enough chances to do things differently that leads us to diversify our thoughts. There were a lot of moments that pushed the preparations to ensure readiness.

And in all these, we are tested to stay patient – especially when things don’t work out as expected; or when some parts don’t go as planned; or if we don’t feel appreciated or remembered. Or if we feel we can do better.

In challenging times, we look into ourselves and find the quiet in us – that part that remains strong and soft at the same time; that part of us that remains gentle and wild; that part of us that remains patient and optimistic for better times ahead.

Then you have friends that always make it lighter. And always a good run to always make us feel better than we were. Wonderful morning with this bunch! 😘😘😘

#TheGratefulCompilation #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Solo run this morning. But way better 10km today than last one. Improved by ~5mins bringing me closer to my Sub1 target. I cannot wait to get there!

Resonating thoughts this run: PREPARATION.

Preparation takes patience. It sometimes takes its toll because of all steps that need to be considered – how everything ties to each other or how it should be tied together. It also takes some level of anticipation of what can happen, may-not-happen-if, what-if-this-happens and other scenarios. It takes a level of visualization to see the best and worst case scenarios. It takes time to prepare and usually nerve-racking when it is time to do what we have been preparing for.

But in most cases, when we prepare and we prepare well, it pays off – all the effort, all the time, all the energy becomes worth it. Then we reap what we prepared for.

And that feeling will be wonderful – when all we visualized and hoped for happens the way we planned it in our head. How we visualized manifests itself.
So let’s prepare well and play the scenarios in our head. Be ready for all the good stuff because they say it may not be easy, but it will be definitely be worth it. And it will be worth learning from.

#TheGratefulCompilation #AneurysmSurvivor #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Had another chance to run another 10km today.
Was off by 3mins from the last run due to several stops due to cars and crossing the streets (and me stopping!). But what a sight to see the city come to life as the sun comes up!

Resonating thoughts today: STARTING AND ENDING CYCLES.

As humans, are creatures of HABITS. We try to start our own system of “doing” so long as it gives us our desired results. We like the predictability and the ease and comfort knowing what is waiting for us. We also enjoy knowing what’s ahead of us. We get used to the routine and cycles we follow in our lives. There is a cycle of how our lives move from one event to another. We observe the order in which they happen and we get conditioned as they repeatedly happen…unknowingly and unwittingly.

As we become part of the cycle, we partake in the changes it brings. And we get changed in the process, too.

But there comes a time we need to choose to BREAK the cycle – when it is not a healthy cycle anymore; when the cycle results to a distraction to the main area of focus; when the cycle becomes a cycle of misses that can be avoided; when the cycle becomes destructive to ourselves and our relationships with others. Why stay in a cycle of helplessness? Why stay in a state of disconnect?

There is time to begin a new habit; there is time to end the cycle by choosing a deviation that leads to a better outcome. We need to let ourselves make a deliberate decision to choose either to keep up with the cycle or to change it. Why change when it’s not broken? Or why not change when we know it is broken?

At the end of the day, the choice is ours to make – either to stay in the process or to leave the process behind. LET’S MAKE THE RIGHT CALL.

#TheGratefulCompilation #RoadToBubbles #42on40

Clocked in 10km run. Not yet my PR from last year but an improvement from my last 10km run by ~8mins. Getting back little by little towards my sub1 pace. Almost a minute better too in terms of pace improvement. Working my way there!

And with some help – thank you for J for pacing me today. Let’s work on tempo run and distance training in the upcoming weeks. Time to get back to our regular programming!

Resonating thoughts today: STARTING OVER AND ASKING HELP.

Starting over has its perks – fresh start and a new start to try something new. It also has its challenges – the adjustment, the finding of balance in the approaches and the fine tuning. It also provides the opportunity to seek the neccessary help that makes the starting over journey easier.We seek the help we need so long as we don’t see asking for help as a sign of weakness.

The courage to start over and to ask for help are signs of strength – of character, of spirit, and heart. Be brave to start over when we need to.

Sometimes all it takes is bit of nudge so we stay focused. Sometimes it just takes a little push to keep the motivation alive. Sometimes it’s just a friend to keep supporting to make it more enjoyable and worthwhile.

Good run today, good company and good conversations – perfect recipe to start another productive week!

#TheGratefulCompilation #RoadToBubbles #42on40 #AneurysmSurvivor

Beautiful to see this city wake up and get busier by the minute. So happy to be back here and running once again. Good run and good friends to wrap up a busy week! Not yet back to my best time but starting good considering I have been on hiatus since start of the year! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Resonating thoughts this run: EVERYTHING EVENS OUT IN THE END.

We are all governed by this law: We reap what we sow. We get what we worked for. We do good and it comes back to us. We do bad and it bites us in the end.

Our RESULTS are impacted by our action. Every action is triggered by INTENTION. Every reaction is equal to the ACTION done against it. Every action has its own consequences.

Bad intention makes way for bad consequences. GOOD intention into good CONSEQUENCES. No exception to the rule can make one more prone than others or that makes one more special than others. It all depends on the pureness of intention and the sincerity of action.

The Universe is fair and objective.So do good to ALL in acton, deed and intention. Let’s treat each other with tenderness and understanding. Do the good so it flows over. Do everything in love.Kindness is the currency.

🥰🥰🥰

#TheGratefulCompilation #RoadToBubbles #42on40