I've recently been in touch with another former classmate in the Philippines. She works as an archaeologist over there and she sent me an email recently asking me how I ended up in California. It seemed to her that I just disappeared from the face of the earth right after high school. We went to the same university after that but we never saw each other there. So here is a brief history of how I got here:
The running boom in the U.S. during the 70's finally reached the Philippines around 1979. I was working as a physical fitness instructor then and I joined a Sunday training group in the Metropolitan Manila area. It was just one of those weekly fun run events where they gave you ribbons for finishing and after participating 10 times, you got a free t-shirt. There was also a group that followed the Honolulu Marathon Training Program with the intent of running the 1980 Honolulu Marathon. It was with this group that I hooked on to which enabled me to come to the U.S. They arranged for the visas, air travel and hotel accomodations after we gave them the money so everything was taken cared of. With us came the medical director of the fitness center I worked for, so he was my roommate in Hawaii when we got there. We had already run our first marathon in the Philippines in November. So we ran the Honolulu Marathon and it was one of those rainy days where peeing in your shorts while continuing to run to save time wasn't out of the question. After all, the rain just washed it all away. No need to pull over the side of the road to expose and relieve yourself. Gross, huh?!
Part of the plan was to visit relatives in the mainland so the day after the marathon, we left for California. We went our separate ways here, me to visit my uncle, and the good doctor off to see relatives in Connecticut (if I remember right). So this is how it came to be. Visiting relatives, finding a job, becoming a legal alien, then finally becoming a U.S. Citizen. All this things happened to me and I owe it all to running. Thats probably the reason why I continue to run today, because without running I wouldn't be where I am now. Being in a place where a lot of people all over the world can only dream of.
1 comment:
Cool story! I didn't know that running was the catalyst to you being in California. It sounded like as a young person, the world opened up to you because you were a runner. Very cool!!!!
I talked with a winemaker last evening who just did a 850 km pilgrimage in Spain. She shared how much of an experience it was, how unique and soul-seeking. I think it is because I have run a marathon that I can begin to understand her, how putting oneself through an endurance event of that magnitude, while it sounds silly and self-torturous, is so wonderful that it brings you to enjoy what you can only enjoy when you do something so big and unique and physically challenging. That is really wonderful and something that no amount of money can buy.
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